South Africa is located on the southernmost tip of the African continent, marked by several distinct ecosystems.
Capitals: Cape Town, Pretoria, Bloemfontein
Dialing code: +27
Currency: South African rand
Did you know:
South Africa has three capital cities – Cape Town (Legislative), Pretoria (Administrative) and Bloemfontein (Judicial). There are nine provinces in total: Western Cape, Eastern Cape, ZwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, Free State, North West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Each has its own government.
Recommended: List Of Natural And Mineral Resources In South Africa
Nelson Mandela is known by six different names in South Africa. At birth, he was named Rolihlahla Mandela. On his first day of school, his teacher gave him the name Nelson, following the custom back in the 1920s to give all children English names as English colonials ‘couldn’t’ pronounce African names. When he was 16 he was given the name of Dalibhunga (‘creator or founder of the council’) during a traditional rites of passage ceremony. South Africans commonly call him Madiba, which is the name of the Thembu clan to which he belongs, or simply Tata or Khulu, the Xhosa words for ‘father’ and ‘grandfather’.
Table Mountain, one of the iconic landmarks of South Africa, is one of the oldest mountains in the world – and has more than 2,200 species of plants, 70 percent of which are endemic.
The meandering 850km road through Cape Winelands is world’s longest wine route.