German behind bar in South Africa is party animal (4)
I believe the answer is:
stag
'party animal' is the definition.
'stag' can be an answer for 'party' (I've seen this before). I'm not certain of the 'animal' bit.
'german behind bar in south africa' is the wordplay.
'german' becomes 'g' (abbreviation).
'behind' says to put letters next to each other.
'bar' becomes 't' (T-bar is a part of a ski lift).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'south africa' becomes 'sa' (abbreviation).
't' inserted into 'sa' is 'sta'.
'g' put after 'sta' is 'STAG'.
'is' is the link.
(Other definitions for stag that I've seen before include "Male deer; speculator" , "one may get in a rut" , "Adult male red deer" , "Unaccompanied man at party" , "Game - speculator" .)