Wheelchair access and wheelchair-friendly accommodation is a lot more available in South Africa than the average traveller is led to believe, although it still remains an area, particularly when it comes to public transport, that needs improvement.

However, many of South Africa's public buildings cater for wheelchair access, and most sport stadiums provide areas accessible to wheelchairs. Our national parks usually have one or more wheelchair-friendly chalets or rooms, and with the advent of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, this can only improve.

Wheelchair-friendly accommodation is available throughout the country, from glorious lodges in the Amatola Mountains in the Eastern Cape, to thatched African-style rondawels (rondavels?) in the Valley of the Olifants, Limpopo Province.

Experience the Cape Winelands on a working wine farm outside Stellenbosch or a bush camp in the heart of the Karoo. There are self-catering cottages in the Drakensburg, B&Bs in Mpumalanga, cottages on the banks of St Lucia in KwaZulu-Natal, and guest grape farms on the banks of the Orange River in the Kalahari - wherever your wheelchair desires to take you, South Africans have done their best to accommodate you.