Explore South Africa in Africa - South Africa Tourism Info

Description and Basic Information

South Africa with its capital Pretoria is located in Africa (Southern Africa, at the southern tip of the continent of Africa). It covers some 1,219,913 square kilometres (slightly less than twice the size of Texas) with 43,786,000 citizens. Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, English, Tswana, Sotho, Southern and Tsonga are the languages used by people in South Africa (consider regional differences). Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia and Lesotho are bordering countries.

Pictures from Pretoria (Capital)

Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners.

About South Africa

The terrain offers vast interior plateau rimmed by rugged hills and narrow coastal plain. The average density of population is about 35 per km². The climate in can be described as mostly semiarid with subtropical along east coast, sunny days, cool nights. Possible natural disasters include prolonged droughts.

To reach someone in South Africa dial +27 prior to a number. There are 4,320,000 installed telephones. And there are 46,436,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks operate on frequencies of 900, 1800 Mhz. Websites typically end with the top level domain ".za". If you want to bring electric appliances (e.g. battery charger), keep in mind the local 220V - 50Hz.

The country consists of 9 regions/states which are listed below.

Regions/States of South Africa

South African Tourism Information

Official Tourism Office

Website: South Africa Tourism

P.O. Box X 02
Southbroom 4277
South Africa

Phone: +27 39 316 6999
Fax: +27 39 316 6999

Unesco World Heritage Properties

South Africa has 3 more world heritage locations. To see all of them, visit the South Africa Unesco Heritage location overview.

Cape Floral Region Protected Areas

A serial site – in Cape Province, South Africa – made up of eight protected areas, covering 553,000 ha, the Cape Floral Region is one of the richest areas for plants in the world. It...

Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai, and Environs

The Taung Skull Fossil Site, part of the extension to the site inscribed in 1999, is the place where in 1924 the celebrated Taung Skull – a specimen of the species Australopithecus africanus...

iSimangaliso Wetland Park

The ongoing fluvial, marine and aeolian processes in the site have produced a variety of landforms, including coral reefs, long sandy beaches, coastal dunes, lake systems, swamps, and extensive...

Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape

Mapungubwe is set hard against the northern border of South Africa, joining Zimbabwe and Botswana. It is an open, expansive savannah landscape at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers....

Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape

The 160,000 ha Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape of dramatic mountainous desert in north-western South Africa constitutes a cultural landscape communally owned and managed. This site...

Demographic Information

Age Distribution in South Africa

Each pair of bars represents a single age group (male/female). Each group is spanning 5 years. E.g. 0 to 5 years, 5 to 10 etc. and group "0 to 5" being at the left end and "100 +" at the right end of the chart.

Natural Population Growth

Population, Migration and Growth: The population in South Africa is shrinking at an rate of 0.05% (or by 25,046 citizens). Each year 153,712 people leave this country (or 3.10 per thousand citizens) - making it an emmigration country. This leads to an absolute natural increase rate of the population of 0.26%. Or an total increase of 128,666 citizens.

Based on content from wikitravel.org. The original article can be found here based on the work of these users.
Geographic information is based on the data provided by geonames.org, CIA factsbook and Unesco.