PLACES TO VISIT:

Why SA is unique

Situated right at the tip of the most magnificent, most mysterious, wildest and most ancient of continents, South Africa is a land of spectacular contrasts, both physically and socially. It’s here you’ll find the world’s oldest rocks, the world’s oldest fossils, and the world’s newest democracy.

It was here that our distant ancestors became human, and from here, that we went out to populate the world. And, like almost every country on earth, we’ve had our bloody periods in history and our shameful past, but we are moving on. Our constitution has one of the best human rights clauses in the world, and we are actively working together to achieve harmony between, and a decent standard of living for, all our people.

We South Africans are mightily attached to our land and we often retreat to the sanctuary of the mountains or the bush, or take time out on our wonderful beaches. Our natural heritage is truly spectacular. With vegetation zones ranging from scorching desert to tangled forests, or snow-clad mountains to vividly flower-bedecked plains, there is some beautiful vista just waiting to be discovered around every corner.v
The wilder areas of our country offer a truly unique experience, where you can spend days watching an enormous variety of animals, including impressive beasts such as giraffes, lions, elephants, rhinos and many others. There is nothing quite like sitting back, watching a big, red, sun go down over the African bush while a herd of elephants saunters past. But there really is more to us than beasts and bush and beach. When you visit, do take the time to find out how we live and who we are. Visit our museums and villages, listen to our stories and dance to our music. When you visit South Africa, you’re not just visiting a place, you’re visiting a people.

OUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

South Africa is a land of incredible natural beauty, with over three million hectares set aside for conservation. From the enormous, world-renowned, game-rich Kruger National Park to the little-known, tiny, botanically diverse Mkambati Nature Reserve, our conservation areas offer a wealth of natural
experiences.

Topography & climate

Most of the country is situated on a high central plateau with narrow coastal plains extending from the escarpment to the sea.

On the east coast the Indian Ocean, warmed by the southward-flowing Mozambique Current, brings dependable rain to the coastal plains. So we have lush forests and bushveld on the east coast and along the escarpment. Once on the central plateau, the rainfall decreases steadily towards the west until, on the west coast, we have semi-desert conditions.

The Atlantic Ocean on this coast is cooled by the Benguela Current, which flows northwards from the Antarctic and so doesn’t bring much rain and only contributes a bit of moisture to this parched land in the form of early morning mists.


South Africa is generally sunny and temperate throughout the year. Since the country lies south of the Equator, the seasons are the reverse of those in the Northern Hemisphere.

Winters (June/July) are usually mild although snow falls on the mountain ranges of the Cape and Natal.

Summer days (December/January) are warm with cool nights. Summer rain is the norm over most of the country.

December to February is the best time to enjoy a Mediterranean summer in Cape Town, while June to September is the ideal time to visit Kruger National Park.

Weather in Cape Town: Alt 56 Feet

Temp (F) Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Av Low 60 60 58 53 49 41 45 46 49 52 55 58

Av High 78 79 77 72 67 65 63 64 65 70 73 76

Days no rain 28 26 28 24 17 19 18 18 23 26 27 28

Right in the southwest corner of the country, the Western Cape is somewhat anomalous. Rainfall here is in winter and is brought by huge cyclonic weather systems, which are born deep in the southern ocean. The summers are warm and dry and, generally the whole floral and faunal assemblage is unique.

Plants & flowers

The following is a major simplification, of course. But generally, the southwestern part of the Western Cape consists of the Cape Floral Kingdom – or as we loosely and colloquially call it fynbos. Further north and east is the Karoo semi-desert and, to the northwest the arid but beautiful Namaqualand. Along the east coast are pockets of coastal forest. The escarpment consists mostly of Afro-montane grassland, with some pockets of Afro-montane forest. The broad central Highveld consists of mostly open grassland and the Lowveld consist of broad-leaved open canopy woodland with large areas of grass. The far northwest of the country is desert.

Game and birds

With our enormous diversity of vegetation zones and types, it’s not surprising that we have an enormous array of birds and animals. South Africa is the best place in the world to watch big game. Unlike many other countries in Africa, where elephant herds are dwindling and rhinos are practically extinct, we have extremely healthy populations of these and most of the other animals you would expect to see on safari in Africa. And with over 900 species of birds, many of which occur in our national parks, you’ll never be able to put your binoculars down.

Our bountiful oceans

We have over 3,000km of coastline and a correspondingly enormous range of sealife. If you’re a diver, you’ll be able to travel up the coast in about two weeks and dive in a wide range of marine environments, seeing a totally different faunal and floral assemblage in each spot. And if you’d prefer to stay on the surface, you can still see an incredible array of marine life. South Africa is one of the most fantastic marine mammal watching destinations in the world. Here you can see Cape fur seals quite easily on a short boat trip from most of the major seaside towns in the Western Cape and Garden Route. You’re likely to see enormous pods of bottlenose dolphins, and you may well see the beautiful dusky dolphin near Cape Town. Common dolphins are quite common, and humpback dolphins are seen quite often from Plettenberg Bay north and east to Maputaland.

Southern right whales are a familiar sight in many places off the Cape coast between June and November, and humpback whales are often spotted between August and December. Brydes whales and orcas are also seen occasionally.

THE RAINBOW NATION

Our rainbow nation is a reality - but an elusive one.

Our diversity

With a dynamic fusion of African, European and Asian influences, South Africa is a hotbed of originality and creativity and it is the interplay between our various cultures and the heritage of our individual and shared histories which shapes our nation. Although we treasure our varied and diverse cultural heritages, we don’t usually focus on them. But we’d love to share them with you, so here is a bit of a breakdown just to simplify matters.

We can divide our citizens into two broad groups – indigenous Africans, and naturalised immigrants. Of the latter, the largest group is those of European origin. Some of the older families are descended from the early British, Dutch, German or French settlers. And many South Africans of Portuguese origins may have originally settled in Mozambique or Angola generations ago, and only recently moved down to South Africa.

Other immigrant populations include the many people of Asian descent. Of these the major groups are the Cape Malays (who are actually of Javan descent, but what’s in a name?), the many Indians who have settled around Durban and a large Chinese population. The Javanese/Malays were brought out as slaves early on in the history of the Cape Colony, while the Indians and Chinese came over a little less reluctantly. The majority were brought out as indentured labourers on, respectively, the Natal sugar plantations and the Johanneburg gold mines and, on completion of their contracts, stayed.

As well as these more settled groups, we have many newer immigrants who have made South Africa their home. We can also divide the indigenous Africans into two broad groups – those of Khoi-San descent, and those of Bantu descent. Until the arrival of the European settlers, the Khoi-San people lived all over southern Africa, either as hunter-gatherers or as pastoralists. Some lived in harmony with the Bantu-speaking peoples and some were displaced by these bigger, stronger, more aggressive and more technologically advanced people.

Many people of Khoi-San descent live in the cities and have become totally integrated with urban South African life, but a few still live a rather tenuous existence out in the desert. The Bantu-speaking people can also be divided into two broad groups – Nguni-speaking people, and speakers of other African languages. The Zulu and Xhosa-speaking peoples are of the Nguni group, who originate mostly from the coastal areas – KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. Most of the speakers of other languages, such as Sotho, Tswana, Tsonga and Venda, live in the interior of the country. Of course, these divisions are historical and you will find that the differences between people tend to blur – especially in an urban setting. However, many people cling to aspects of their cultural heritage in the same way that Americans eat turkey at Thanksgiving, and Catholics eat fish on Friday and send each other advent calendars at Christmas.

So, the best way to appreciate our cultural diversity is to arrive with not too many preconceptions, as we are bound to surprise you. We all – no matter what our ethnic backgrounds – share aspects of each other’s cultures, and use phrases and words from each other’s languages. Come share with us, celebrate with us, and experience the adventure of living in a truly multicultural society – confusing as it can sometimes be.

Our religions

We are proud to say that our constitution enshrines freedom of religion and you will find adherents of many different faiths in our country. Not surprisingly, many of our citizens follow one of the world’s major religions – Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism or Hinduism. We also have adherents of less usual faiths, such as Bahai, Rastafarianism and probably a few others.

The concrete evidence of these religions is in our many beautiful places of worship. You will find lovely old stone cathedrals, beautiful temples, attractive synagogues and magnificently coloured and decorated mosques.
A
nd, of course, we do have some homegrown religions. The Zionist Christian Church, usually called the ZCC, has its headquarters in Moria in Limpopo province. Combining elements of traditional African beliefs with Christian values, this church is the biggest in South Africa. Very similar, but confined to KwaZulu-Natal, the Shembe Church also hold many Christian beliefs which it has smoothly integrated with traditional Zulu rituals. And, combining charismatic Christian proselytism with a healthy respect for economic prosperity, our homegrown Rhema Church, which is based in Johannesburg, draws its many adherents mostly from the affluent suburbs.

Our languages

We have 11 official languages: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, North Sotho, South Sotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu. However, most of us do speak English to a greater or lesser degree, so you'll have no trouble being understood. Other languages, which are widely spoken by South African citizens, but are not official, include Gudgerati, Hindi, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, German and Portuguese. The Nama and Khoi-San people speak languages that are not widely recognised outside their own communities.

Our heritage

Our diverse heritage has endowed us with a very interesting material culture. Our cuisine celebrates influences from three continents, our wine borrows the best from the Old World while imbuing it with the freshness of New World influences. Our languages are colourful and borrow freely from each other in both vocabulary and sentence structure. Our art and music displays a wild blend of the classical with the innovative, of the tried and tested with the new and experimental. And our built environment is treasured as jealously as we guard our precious natural resources.

Unlike many revolutionary governments worldwide, we did not go on an orgy of iconoclastic destruction and confusing name changing. We carefully recreated the symbols of apartheid into symbols of liberation – by liberating our own ideas instead of destroying the symbols. The Union buildings – once the bastion of apartheid – are now the symbol of our democracy. Robben Island – a place of fear, dread and isolation – has become a symbol of strength, resilience and forgiveness. Even the Voortrekker Monument, which celebrates, among other things, a historical victory of the Boers over the Zulus, has been allowed its place in the sun, and the Boer commandos have been acknowledged for the freedom fighters they were when they fought against British Imperialism in the 19th Century.

As with many other aspects of our heterogeneous, rather confusing, wonderful, country, our heritage is what we make it. The reality exists out there, but the meaning is created in our own minds – and in the rituals and celebrations we perform around our symbols.

Our unity

We are a truly multi-cultural nation. We speak more than eleven different languages, we eat a range of different foods, and we worship in widely differing ways. We dress differently, we do business in different ways, we spend our leisure time differently. We read different newspapers, watch different TV programmes, and tune our car radios to different stations. But we are one nation and, despite our differences, we continue to develop as a unified people. And we are doing this by focussing on the principle we call Ubuntu.

Ubuntu

We exist because we other people exist. That’s the crux of the concept of Ubuntu. It is the belief that we are human only because we interact with other people. If we were to ignore the rest of humanity, and try to live in a vacuum, we’d be less than human. It’s certainly not a new idea.

But is the mind-set that has kept us going through all our turbulent history – and kept us working towards a society where we can live by that principle. And it is in that spirit that we invite you to come to our country, to visit us, stay with us, play with us. Celebrate with us the adventure of living on this amazing planet – of being on our astonishing continent, and in our wonderful country. And when you leave, take a little of the magic with you. We have plenty to spare.

For South Africa Travel Maps, Books, follow this link...click here

From the official South African Tourism site.