The legalisation of same-sex marriages in Parliament, on 14 November 2006, not only marked South Africa as the fifth country in the world to have done so, but also reinforced South Africa's liberal status in the world. It makes South Africa the most gay-friendly country in Africa, if not in the world, and gay-managed accommodation is an uncomplicated affair.

Cape Town still serves as the epicentre of gay life in the country and De Waterkant and Green Point, known as the gay villages of Cape Town, are home to a number of gay-managed establishments. Events such as Cape Town's PRIDE festival, the Mother City Queer Projects costume dress party, and The Out in Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival all serve to place this vibrantly 'pink' city on every gay traveller's agenda.

But Johannesburg gives the mother city a run for its money. From the Wits collection of 'Gay and Lesbian Archives' (GALA) - a compilation of letters, photographs and records of same-gender relationships right back to the gold rush of the 1880s, and host to the popular Queer Johannesburg tour - to the Jo'burg Pride and South Africa's first gay and lesbian bookstore in Melville.

Gay-managed accommodation isn't limited to these two cities - even the Kalahari benefits from 'dahling, it's simply divine', five-star, gay managed establishments.