South Africa
Glorious beaches, gracious winelands, cosmopolitan cities, sanctuaries teeming with game. South Africa offers the visitor an endless range of excellent options.
Truly cosmopolitan, South Africans are often described as 'the rainbow nation'. South Africa is a vast country (about five times larger than the United Kingdom) which offers a great variety of holiday options and endless things to see and do.
Among the most popular excursions are visits to the country's many superb national parks and game reserves, including the world-renowned Kruger National Park. Cape Town with its familiar landmark, Table Mountain, remains a favourite destination. The picturesque wine estates and quality wines produced there attract great interest. Durban with its year-round sub-tropical climate and popular beaches has rightfully been called the 'Holiday City'.
Any visitor to Johannesburg should include a visit to Gold Reef City, a re-creation of historical city of old Johannesburg while to the north west of the 'city of gold' lies Sun City, South Africa's answer to Las Vegas. Magnificent mountain scenery, including the famed Drakensberg and the awe-inspring Blyde River Canyon, competes with the semi-desert of the Karoo and ancient forests of Tsitsikamma and Knysna for visitors' attention.
South Africa's sunny climate and outdoor lifestyle has produced a very sport conscious nation and visitors may participate in, or watch, virtually any sport from polo to golf, fishing to surfing, soccer to basketball, while a host of high-adrenalin activities are available from bungee jumping to white-river rafting.
Population: 49.991 million (2010)
Size: 1 219 090 km2
Neighbouring country: Namibia,Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Mozambique
Capital: Pretoria (Executive), Cape Town (Legislative)
Language: South Africa has 11 official languages, English being the most widely spoken, Afrikaans, iziZulu, isiXosa, isiNdebele, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, SiSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga.
Capital City
Pretoria and Cape Town share the seat of government, while Bloemfontein is the judicial capital and Johannesburg the centre of commerce.
OR Tambo International Airport, Cape Town, Durban and several smaller airports
Socia-economic statistics: The diversity of its landscape, its game reserves, its lush and scenic coastal cities, its strong economy and excellent transport infrastructure, make South Africa a favourite destination.
First and foremost, South Africa is a mineral exporting country with a particular emphasis on precious stones and metals. There are also huge deposits of coal, iron ore, uranium and other minerals used by industry. The local industrial complex is dominated by the processing of minerals into other products such as steel or the production of oil from natural gas and coal. As a country largely dependent on oil imports, South Africa has become a world leader in oil-from-coal technology.
There is a large manufacturing sector but the most significant sector outside of mining is agriculture. South Africa produces a large share of the subcontinents food requirements and still has a surplus of grains, fruit, meat and fish to supply the international export trade. Wine is a more specialised product for which the country is world-famous. Tourism is a major growth industry.
Tourism investment opportunities: Transfrontier Conservation Areas.
Iconic attraction: Table Mountain
Places to see: Garden Route, Cape winelands, Kruger National Park and other game reserves, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Drakensberg mountains, Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.
Climate: Moderate to very hot in the North, with summer temperatures of 40o C and more, to below freezing point at night in winter.
Currency: South African Rand (ZAR)
Time zone: GMT+ 2
National Day: 27 April, 1994