South Africa in Brief:

The Republic of South Africa has a huge southern coastline, and encloses two small countries (Lesotho and Swaziland).

Capital cities:
Cape Town (legislative)
Pretoria/Tshwane (administrative)
Bloemfontein (judicial).

Currency: the Rand, freely convertible with other major world currencies.

Size: 1,219,090 sq. kilometres - bigger than France, Italy and Germany combined.

Population: 44.8 million.

Languages: 11 official languages, with English and Afrikaans widely spoken.

Tribes: at least more than twenty ethnic groups include Zulu, Xhosa, Pedi, Tswana, Sotho, Tsonga, Swazi, and Venda tribes. Naturalised foreign tribes include the Afrikaans, English, Chinese, Indian and Malay communities.

Economy: Very stable and strong, based on mineral and agricultural wealth.

Outstanding features:
Terrain ranges from mountains to highveld grasslands, semi-desert to scrubland and sub-tropical swamps.
Home to a dazzling spectrum of wildlife and the world’s most diverse plant kingdom

History: Liberated from apartheid rule on May 10th 1994 with Nelson Mandela the first democratically elected president of South Africa.

To learn more about South Africa, visit the official tourism website: www.environment.gov.za