South Africa has 8 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which are recognized and protect areas of outstanding natural, historical and cultural value.

Cradle of Humankind in the Gauteng province, it covers 47 000 hectares of land mostly privately owned. The Cradle of Humankind Site comprises a strip of a dozen dolomitic limestone caves containing the fossilized remains of ancient forms of animals, plants and most importantly, hominids. The dolomite, in which the caves formed, started out as coral reefs growing in a worm shallow sea about 2.3 billion years ago. The Cradle has produced more than 950 hominid fossil specimens, some of them estimated to be between 2.8 and 2.6 million years old.

Robben Island, 12 kilometers off shore from Cape Town. This maximum security prison once held South Africa’s former president, Nelson Mandela. Robben Island can be visited by ferry boats from Cape Town’s Waterfront and guided tours by previous inmates take you around the island and the prison.

Cape Floral Region in the Western Cape is made up of eight protected areas, covering 553,000-ha. The Cape Floral Region is one of the richest areas for plants in the world. It represents less than 0.5% of the area of Africa but is home to nearly 20% of the continent’s flora. The Table Mountain National Park is part of the Region, which includes the incredibly scenic Peninsula mountain chain stretching from Signal Hill in the north to Cape Point in the south, a distance of approximately 60 km. The narrow portion of land with its many beautiful valleys, bays and beaches is circled by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the warmer waters of False Bay in the east. The Table Mountain National Park has two world-renowned landmarks within its boundaries; the majestic Table Mountain in Cape Town and the legendary Cape of Good Hope.

Mapungubwe National Park in the Limpopo Province is an extensive savannah landscape situated up against the northern border of South Africa, uniting Botswana and Zimbabwe. This is the land of sandstone formations, mopane woodlands, brooding baobabs, ancient floodplains, unique riverine forests and a wealth of animal life. The Cultural Landscape provides visitors with a unique portrait of the Mapungubwe kingdom from between 1050 AD and 1270 AD. The kingdom was regarded as the forerunner of the Zimbabwe civilization and at its height was the largest kingdom in the African sub-continent. It had complex social and political structures and traded with China and India. The virtually untouched remains of the palace sites, the settlement area, and two capital sites still remain and can be visited.

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park (previously St Lucia Wetlands Park) is situated on the east coast of South Africa about 275 kilometers (170 mi) north of Durban. It is South Africa's third-largest protected area, spanning 280 kilometers (175 mi) of coastline, from the Mozambican border in the north to Mapelane south of the St Lucia estuary, and made up of around 3,280 sq km pristine natural ecosystem. The iSimangaliso Wetland Park includes an immense mosaic of habitats ranging from marine systems (coral reefs and beaches) and coastal forests (from salt and fresh water marshes to the open estuarine waters of Lake St Lucia itself) from lush coastal plains to the drier woodland areas. This is a remarkably beautiful place in South Africa.

Vredefort Dome, approximately 120km south west of Johannesburg, is the oldest and largest meteorite impact site in the world. Formed an estimated 2000 million years ago when a gigantic meteorite (larger than Table Mountain) hit the earth close to where Vredefort is today. The force of the impact opened up a crater, which is still visible, and is about 40km in diameter.

UKhahlamba Drakensberg Park has exceptional natural beauty in its soaring basaltic structures, incisive dramatic cutbacks, and golden sandstone walls. Rolling high altitude grasslands, the pristine steep-sided river valleys and rocky gorges also contribute to the beauty of the site. The site's diversity of habitats protects a high level of endemic and globally threatened species, especially birds and plants. This spectacular natural site also contains many caves and rock-shelters with the largest and most concentrated group of paintings in Africa south of the Sahara, made by the San people over a period of 4,000 years. The rock paintings are outstanding in quality and diversity of subject and in their depiction of animals and human beings. They represent the spiritual life of the San people who no longer live in this region.

Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape is a remarkable mountainous desert in the north-west of the country that is uniquely owned and managed by the semi-nomadic Nama community, descendants of the Khoi-Khoi people. It is a land of extreme temperatures characterized by a harsh, dry landscape.