Five books to inspire your travels to South Africa - with Janet Ellis

It’s safe to say that travel leaves a long-lasting impression long after you return home from your adventures. After enjoying my first trip with Just You to Experience South Africa, I returned to the UK with a yearning to learn so much more about its history, landscapes and people.

Here are my top picks that I will be adding to the reading pile so I can elongate my adventures and appreciation for the Rainbow Nation.

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

Visiting Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg and reading some of his inspirational quotes left me compelled to learn more about the outstanding leader and the marks he has left, and continues to leave on his country.

In the majority of places you visit, you will see Mandela artworks, statues and photography proudly on display – and new for 2025, during your visit to Soweto, a visit to Regina Mundi Catholic Church features artwork of Mandela but also a sobering photography exhibition that documents exactly what he was campaigning against. On 30 November 1997, Mandela paid tribute to the church by declaring this date as Regina Mundi Day , “a church that refused to allow God’s name to be used to justify discrimination and repression".

The church was committed to the history books during apartheid when it opened the doors to anti-apartheid groups and activists who were prevented from gathering publicly in large groups. During a visit you will see some of the damage caused during the struggle.

South Africa – Culture Smart! by Isabella Morris

Having the company of our tour group, Holiday Director and Local Guides meant that I felt pretty well versed in the cultural nuances. However with something like 14 different languages and dialects, plus regularly seeing areas where the very rich and poor co-exist, I think a little bit of research before you travel is always going to be a good idea and put you in good stead, especially as you travel through so many different areas.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow by Gavin Bell

As I eluded to in my travel story on South Africa, things aren’t all rainbows and roses in South Africa, it has had a tumultuous past, just like its present. But this isn’t something I say to put you off visiting, this country is enduringly beautiful for its people, its landscapes, its wildlife and so much more.

But to be ignorant of its political history and its current landscape, does not a responsible and socially conscious traveller make! This is the one book I had wish I’d read before I’d travelled.

Told by foreign correspondent Bell, who reported on the last days of the all-too recent apartheid system, his reporting of life here since is hauntingly beautiful as things swing between hope and despair, freedom and fear. And its search for identity continues.