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South Africa is not only beautiful and rich in culture, flora & fauna and history its also a
good country to start an African journey as it gives an introduction into the modern
African lifestyle. It also shows the opulence and the severe poverty that you can come
across in African cities. Its a country of diversity in many aspects. Come along and find
out more.
Quick Info
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| Official name: |
Republic of South Africa |
| Capital City: |
Pretoria (administrative), Bloemfontein (judicial centre), Cape Town (legislative centre) |
| Population: |
50.5 million; black 78%; white 10%; colored 9%; Asian (Indian) 2.5%; other. |
| Area: |
1.2 million km² |
| Languages: |
(11 official languages) Sesotho sa Leboa 9.2%, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati (Swazi), Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans 14,4%, English 8.6%, isiNdebele, isiXhosa 17.9%, isiZulu 22.9%. |
| Literacy: |
92.9% |
| Currency: |
Republic |
| Government type: |
Republic |
| Religions: |
Predominantly Christian; traditional African beliefs, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish. |
| Natural resources: |
South Africa is rich in natural resources: Gold; chromium; antimony; coal; iron; manganese;nickel; phosphates; tin; uranium; gem diamonds; platinum; copper; vanadium; salt; and natural gas. |
| Agricultural products: |
Corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; beef, poultry, mutton, wool, and dairy products. |
| Industries: |
Mining (worlds largest producer of platinum, gold, chromium), automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textile, iron and steel, chemicals, fertilizer, and foodstuffs. |
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South African History
About 2,500 years ago the Bantu tribe started to slowly expand into what we now know
as South Africa. At the time Khoe-San People existed in these areas as nomadic hunters.
The first Europeans coming to South Africa were Portuguese and named the tip of the
country the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. In 1652 the Dutch reached the Cape of Good
Hope and settled down. In the late 1700s Dutch farmers called Boers started to expand
through South Africa. In 1795 Britain took control of the Cape as a result of Napoleons war with the Netherlands. Some Boers got along with the native tribes; some clashed
badly and this led into a battle where Dutch Boers slaughtered 3000 Zulus in KwaZulu
Natal in 1838.
After two wars between the Boers and the British in 1880 and 1899 the Union of South
Africa was formed in 1910, consolidating various Boer republics with British colonies,
forming a unified state as part of the British Commonwealth.
In 1948 the National Party (NP) came to power implementing the white supremacy. In
the 1950s the NP introduced a number of apartheid laws. Since the 1990s with the release
of Nelson Mandela who became president, and with the abolition of the apartheid laws,
South Africa has gone through an amazing transition but is also still recovering.
Cape Town (South Africa) Climate
When is the best time to travel to the Cape?
That depends on your interests and what you want to see. We give you a rough idea what
to expect but the weather is unpredictable especially in the last few years as the result of
global warming.
Cape Town has its own characteristic weather patterns, which create a very unique flora.
November to March is the rainy season in the rest of South Africa while it is sunny and
dry around the Cape. From April until August it cools down. The main rainy season is
June and July even though you can still get 4 seasons in one day. In September and
October the rain becomes less and temperatures start rising. |
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| January: |
Is a nice and warm month. |
| February: |
Is the hottest month of the year. |
| March: |
Is the last hot month with hardly any rain. |
| April: |
The temperatures cool down and the rain slowly increases. It can be sunny
one moment and pouring-down the next. |
| May: |
It gets cooler and wetter. |
| June: |
The month with the most rain in the year. |
| July: |
IIs still wet and cold. |
| August: |
IIs a very temperamental month. It can be beautiful one minute and
thunderstorms the next. |
| September: |
The rain slows down and spring starts. |
| October: |
The rain decreases even more and temperatures start rising. |
| November: |
The weather gets sunny and dry. |
| December: |
Very green vegetation and mostly clear skies. |
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