TOURISM: SOUTH AFRICAN BEACHES

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Cachet: The cachet shows a hand painted catamaran with striped orange, cream and black sails beached on wet sand, with three figures standing beside it looking out toward a rocky headland and distant mountains. The wording "Strande · Beaches" appears in a flowing script at the top left, and the whole scene is rendered in a soft watercolour style with the sail's bold stripes as the main pop of colour against a muted coastal palette. The postmark itself carries a large illustrated shell, tying the beach theme together right down to the cancellation mark.

Info card

TOURISM: SOUTH AFRICAN BEACHES South Africa has some of the longest and most spectacular sandy beaches in the world and the country's coastal resorts offer a holiday choice to suit every taste — from tiny hamlets on the cold, invigorating water of the Atlantic Ocean off the Cape West Coast to the sophisticated luxury resorts on the warm Indian Ocean of the Natal coast. 10c stamp Plettenberg Bay Along the southern Cape Coast the famous Garden Route yields its most spectacular sights between Mossel Bay and the Storms River mouth. The road thrusts through mountain ranges and dallies with the sea, where forest, lake and lagoon provide a setting for the famous resorts of Wilderness, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay — without doubt one of the most beautiful vacation coasts in the world. 20c stamp Durban Sophisticated Durban is a city on holiday all the year round. Durban is in fact the focal point of a chain of resorts fringing Natal's shoreline. Here the lush subtropical vegetation and the palm-studded lawns sweeping right down to the sea, the golden sandy beaches, wide river estuaries and rolling green hills are all compounded into one of the Southern Hemisphere's most complete playgrounds. 25c stamp West Coast Along the Cape West Coast lies a string of bays, beaches, coves, rocky capes and islands that lend a unique character to this coastal area. Bok Bay is world-famous for its iridescent Bokbaaivygie, Dorotheanthus bellidiformis, and the inshore Sandveld is widely known for its distinctive flora. Further north the lagoon at Langebaan is a bird paradise and the most significant wintering ground in Southern Africa for migratory shore birds from Northern Europe. 40c stamp Clifton Clifton is famous for its four sheltered beaches on the Atlantic Ocean and attracts holiday-makers from all over the world. Not only do they come to enjoy the sun, the surf and the white sandy beaches, but also to savour the delights of cosmopolitan Cape Town, this Mother City nestling against majestic Table Mountain. Text compiled with the kind co-operation of the SA Tourist Corporation. TOERISME: SUID-AFRIKAANSE STRANDE Van die wêreld se langste en aanskoulikste sandstrande kom aan die Suid-Afrikaanse kus voor. Strandoorde in Suid-Afrika bied 'n vakansiekeuse na elkeen se smaak — van klein gehuggies aan die koue, verfrissende water van die Atlantiese Oseaan aan die Kaapse Weskus tot by die gesofistikeerde luukse oorde aan die warm Indiese Oseaan langs die Natalse kus. 10c-seël Plettenbergbaai Langs die suidelike Kaapse kus bied die bekende Tuinroete die asemrowendste natuurskoon tussen Mosselbaai en Stormsriviermond. Die pad dring deur bergreekse en dartel langs die see verby, waar woude, mere en strandmere die agtergrond bied vir bekende vakansieoorde soos Wildernis, Knysna en Plettenbergbaai — voorwaar een van die mooiste vakansiekusstreke in die wêreld. 20c-seël Durban Durban is 'n gesofistikeerde stad waar dit dwarsdeur die jaar vakansieseisoen is. Durban is trouens die brandpunt van die string vakansieoorde wat die Natalse kuslyn omsoom. Hier word die welige subtropiese plantegroei en die palmbeplante grasperke wat tot teen die see aanrol, die goue sandstrande, wye riviermondings en golwende groen heuwels alles saamgevoeg in een van die Suidelike Halfrond se voortreflikste plesieroorde. 25c-seël Weskus Langs die Kaapse Weskus lê 'n snoer van baaitjies, strande, inhamme, rotskape en eilande wat aan hierdie kusstreek 'n unieke karakter verleen. Bokbaai is wêreldberoemd vir sy kleurryke Bokbaaivygies, Dorotheanthus bellidiformis, en die aanliggende Sandveld is wyd bekend vir sy besondere flora. Verder noord lê die Langebaanstrandmeer, 'n voëlparadys wat die belangrikste winteroord in Suider-Afrika vir kustrekvoëls uit Noord-Europa is. 40c-seël Clifton Clifton is bekend vanweë sy vier beskutte strandjies aan die Atlantiese Oseaan en lok talle vakansiegangers van oor die hele wêreld. Hulle kom nie net om die son, die see en die wit sandstrande te geniet nie, maar ook om die plesier te smaak wat die kosmopolitiese Kaapstad bied — hierdie Moederstad wat teen die majestueuse Tafelberg nestel. Teks opgestel met die vriendelike samewerking van die Suid-Afrikaanse Toeristekorporasie.

Additional information

This cover is postmarked on 12 October 1983 in Durban, SAPO reference PT 4.6. It's part of a tourism series celebrating South African beaches, with the four stamps showing Plettenberg Bay, Durban, the West Coast and Clifton. The West Coast stamp text points out that Langebaan lagoon is the most significant wintering ground in Southern Africa for migratory shore birds arriving all the way from Northern Europe, a detail easy to miss next to the more obvious holiday appeal of the other three beaches.

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