|
Taste South Africa. A land of contrasts, vast open spaces, splendid
scenery, abundant wildlife and unique cultural and cosmopolitan
experiences.
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.
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.
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.
OUR UNIFIED PEOPLE
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 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 wonder with you. We have plenty to spare.
|
