Tiffindell

Tiffindell, Eastern Cape Highlands

A snow resort, in South Africa? Indeed, Tiffindell is South Africa's answer to Europe's ski resorts in the Alps, only, to be fair, one cannot expect quite the same deluge of snow.

One thing you can be sure of, however, is that Tiffindell has the monopoly on snow, when it comes to winter sports in the country, and visitors and locals alike, are delighted by the prospect. Tiffindell lies on the slopes of Ben Mc Dhui, the highest mountain peak in the Cape that is part of the southern Drakensberg range of mountains, quite close to Rhodes in the Eastern Cape.

The quaint and appealing resort has its very own snowmaking machine, for those days on which it doesn't snow, and you're guaranteed of snow on the slopes for 100 days of the year (roughly 3 months).

Tiffindell is not only the site of the annual South African ski and snowboard championships, but on an average winter's day, the snow resort can host up to 300 skiers on its slopes, which include a main slope and a few flat beginner slopes. The resort is busy with multimillion rand upgrades, which translate into new lifts, ski runs and accommodation. The site of the African continent's highest bar is set to increase its ski runs eight-fold - the just over 1 kilometre ski run will become a 10 kilometre run, with chairlifts.

And you have to admit, that skiing in South Africa has a special ring to it - like having a game resort in the middle of Austria. Certainly the new ski ramps will make Tiffindell comparable to smaller resorts in Austria and Scotland.