Painting South Africa Pink

Painting SA Pink

There’s no doubt that South African tour­ism has had a burst of col­our of late, and I don’t mean in terms of our Rainbow Nation. Not only are we fron­trun­ners in the arena of green, eco-friendly travel, but our pink tour­ism – a kind of niche tour­ism geared toward gay, les­bian, bisexual or trans­gender (LGBT) people - has really taken off as well. In fact, South Africa is con­sist­ently voted as one of the top ten gay hol­i­day des­tin­a­tions in the world. Here’s why…

The equal­ity of every South Africa cit­izen, regard­less of, among other things, sexual ori­ent­a­tion, was con­sti­tu­tion­ally guar­an­teed back in 1994 along with the event of our demo­cracy. Even more pro­gress­ively, in 2006 South Africa became the fifth coun­try in the world, and the first in Africa, to leg­al­ise same sex mar­riages. The enshrin­ing in law of these equal rights makes for a pretty gay-friendly hol­i­day spot.

The Pink Route, set up by Our Way Travel, is a col­lec­tion of gay-owned, gay-managed or gay-friendly accom­mod­a­tion spots across South Africa, aimed at act­ively wel­com­ing LGBT people to explore the incred­ible hol­i­day exper­i­ence our coun­try has to offer. The route begins in Cape Town, South Africa's gay cap­ital, and one need only spend a little time there to dis­cover why it’s been given that title.

Painting SA Pink

The cos­mo­pol­itan city is teem­ing with life and cul­ture. Green Point, just above the ever-popular V&A Waterfront, forms the epi­centre of Cape Town’s gay scene, with ram­bunc­tious clubs like Bronx ‘Action’ Bar and Beaulah bar, a les­bian club, mixed in amongst the more soph­ist­ic­ated wine bars, as well as the down­right naughty -  The Knead late night bath­house and mas­sage par­lour anyone?

Then there are the incred­ible beaches, includ­ing Cape Town’s pre­dom­in­antly gay, nud­ist beach, Sandy Bay.

Though for a sig­ni­fic­ant amount of time Cape Town played sole host to gay tour­ism in South Africa, the rest of the coun­try has been painted pink recently too. The Pink Route extends up the West Coast, Route 62, the Garden Route, and into Gauteng.

Even the very tra­di­tional game reserves are get­ting in on action, with tour oper­at­ors offer­ing spe­cific­ally gay-friendly guides and pack­ages. This means any­one can explore the touristy delights of SA without fear of being marginalised.

Painting SA Pink

Of course, fant­astic night­life and breath­tak­ing scenery are not the only reason to visit South Africa. Our new, lib­eral mar­riage laws make it the per­fect place to jet off to and tie the knot. Legality aside, get­ting hitched in a beau­ti­ful place with five-star splend­our is anybody’s dream, and there are a num­ber of ser­vices that cater for pink wed­dings (see South Africa Weddings).

If it’s a hol­i­day you’re after, rather than a com­mit­ment, then it’s a good idea to plan your trip around one of our fam­ous pink events. There are, of course, annual Pride fest­ivals and parades, as well as the Out In Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. The most pop­u­lar how­ever, is hands-down the Mother City Queer Party, a huge annual dress-up party with only the very best cos­tumes, décor, DJs and live acts.

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For addi­tional des­tin­a­tion inform­a­tion see:
South Africa Attractions
South Africa Events
Things to Do in South Africa