An Introduction to South Africa. Information about safaris, wildlife, game parks, beaches, culture, tours, tourism, politics, art and entertainment.

'A World in One Country'

Sunshine, blue skies, safaris, wildlife and game parks, long open beaches and the traditional African culture all held together with road and transport systems rarely found anywhere else on the continent.

This what draws the majority of visitors to South Africa.

Politically South Africa has been in the world headlines for the last 40 odd years, first of all because of the racial policies of the apartheid government, where whites dominated all other races, and then, in 1994 when the first truly democratic elections were held and won by the previously banned ANC. With the potential powder keg of conflict between the white dominated National Party governement and its supporters and the new black dominated ANC government, the world sate in abated breath for what could have been one of the bloodies civil wars of modern times. But miraculously it has been a relatively peaceful transformation, in no small measure to the statemanship of Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk.

The 'new' South Africa' still has many issues to sort out, the most pressing revolving around racial issues, with the 'previously disadvantaged' people wanting, needing and receiving much compensation for the ills of apartheid. Matters such as land claims, preferential placing of tenders and contracts and reservation of jobs for blacks in what is vitually the old apartheid in revers is causing an underlying tension being too much change for some and too little for others.

Another result of the transformations in South Africa is the changing of many names, partially to honour the black heroes and cultures that were suppressed. These ongoing name changes have many people bewildered (not just visitors, but us locals too).

This country is also a bewildering mixgture of race, creed, culture and colour - an indication of this is the eleven official languages South Africa has. However, English is widely spoken.

South Africa is the most southerly country on the African continent and economically and politically one of the most important and influential. The land area occupies 1,3 million square kilometers, which, to put in context, is about five times the size of Britain.

The northern borders of the country are shared with Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Swaziland with the rest of the country surriounded by a 3 000 km of coastline, the Atlantic forming the western and Indian the easter seaboard.

The land falls into three distinctive physical regions - the dominant great interior plateau, the relatively narrow coastal and hinterland strip and the divide between the two, a continous semi-circle of mountains called the Great Escarpemtn. The plateau is the southern tip of Great African Plateau which starts 5 000km to the north in the Sahara Desert.

The semi-circle of mountains are dominated by the Drakensberg range, which runs from Mpumalanga in the north and stretched down thourgh the borders of KwaZulu - Natal and the Free State and ends up in the Eastern Cape.

The country is blessed with much sunshine, the averge number of cloud-free days, depending on the area, are between 7,5 to 9,4 hours, which is very attractive whem compared with London's 3,8 hours.

Rainfall can be split into three regions: The southwest of the country (the Southern Cape) which experiences winter rains; the eastern belt (Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal coastline) which can enjoy perennial showers and the rest of the country which has summer rainfall, oftern in the form of afternoon thunder showers.

The main river system is the Orange which has its origins in the Maluti (part of the Drakensberg) in Lesotho and flows westwards for 2 250km to the Atlantic Ocean. Its main tributary, the Vaal River, is the country's second most important river. This geography leads to an environmental diversity that makes travelling extensively around the country so rewarding. From the arid moonscapes of the Northern Cape to the forest lined coastline of the Cape's Garden route; from the almost flat vast open landscapes of the Great Karoo to the towering mountains of the Drakensberg; from the sheep and cattle farms to the bushveld supporting teaming wildlife; fomr the fields of bright yellow Free State sunflowers and waiving maize to the lush green vineyars of the Cape; from the amazing array of succulants battling the elements to the miracle of the sping flowers of Namaqualand and the fynbos of the coastal areas; from the windpumps drawing much needed water from precious underground streams to the towering headgear of the gold and diamond mines extracting a wealth from the ground; from glittering built-up cities to intimate little vilages.... this is our South Africa.