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| HOME | | South Africa - people culture | South Africa diamonds | South Africa wineland tours | | Private tours - South Africa | South Africa Tribes | Camels Africa | South Africas | | South Africa game viewing tours E-mail Site Owner at info@abbott-infotech.co.za | This site give you facts about South Africa, South Africa people and culture, exotic tours in Africa, Africa South diamonds, South Africa winelands tours, private tours of South Africa, hyenas of Africa, South Africa Tour company, South Africa tribes, camels in Africa and South Africa game viewing tours! South Africa is that unique country at the Southern tip of Africa, with its incredible diversity. If I had stated this page 11 years ago, I would probably have started that "South Africa is the only white dominated country in Africa" Fortunately this is no longer true, and South Africa, the youngest democracy in Africa, has thrown of the fetters of "Apartheid", a racial discrimination system, which was then protected by law! The story of South Africas pre-history, its pre-colonial history, its colonial history, its white ruled history and finally its emergence as a broad-based democracy, makes for fascinating reading and viewing. South Africa is often advertised as being "the world in one country" and it comes surprisingly close to this boast! In my own simple way, I will try to give you a glimpse of diversity in South Africa. If I can instill in you just a fraction of the love I have for my country, and if I can interest you enough to come and visit South Africa, my purpose would be fulfilled! Although, I love the whole of South Africa and its variety, from the Mediteranean mountain landscape around cape town, to the major cities, Durban, Johannesburg or "Jozi" as it is affectionately known to its inhabitants. The Executive Capital Pretoria (Yes we have three capitals!) Durban that bustling Beach town on the East Coast, and all the other great Cities, Towns and places, my special love is for the Kalahari region, where I was fortunate enough to be born, and the unofficial Capital of the Kalahari, Upington, where I now live and work. This site is a work in progress, by one person, done part-time, and I can only do so much in one day. I sincerely appologise for any missing links, missing pages or other problems. Please look past this and enjoy the wealth of information. If you have any queries or requests that I complete a specific section first, I will try to accommodate your request for info on South Africa. I am working hard at obtaining an official sponsor (Government ot NGO) and have made some progress. In the mean-while you will have to be patient. Some surprising facts about South Africa - It has 11 official languages, and even a few "not so ordinary" people that can communicate in the majority of the 11 official languages. Most People are able to speak at least two or three languages as a minimum, in Which English and often Afrikaans as well, is a fair guess, with one or two "African" languages, as a matter of fact. Although our English may sometimes be difficult for outsiders to understand, most people, even in the remote areas, can manage a simple conversation in English. South Africa is also home to Afrikaans, one of few completely new languages that have come into existence in the past 300 years. Afrikaans is based on "Netherlands" or "Dutch" and although not speakers of these languages can not always undertstand each other clearly, it just takes a bit of practice. Afrikaans is the only known "European" language that have developed in Africa. It has been recognised as a separate languae rather than a dialect of Dutch, for more than a century. Maybe you didn't notice it, perhaps you did! That akward word "European", which is so typical of South Africa, especially in the Apartheid years. Surprisingly this word means roughly "white people", in other words "people originating from Europe". More than one American, in the pre-democratic South Africa, eyed a "Toilet" marked "Europeans only" with much distrust and finally asked "But where must we Americans go?". This is a standing joke in South Africa. Of course, today, you will not find such notices, except as rarities, in museums, and possibly, for the genuine article, at a speciality or tourist shop at an inflated price
As you can see, South Africa is at the Southern tip of Africa. South Africa contains, completely within its borders, the two independent countries of Lesotho and Zwasiland, each with its own government, legal system. I am sure this is another unique feature! South Africa is almost triangular in shape, with a slight bulge in the north-east region. South Africa then tapers down to the south and to the West, where the forms a little "pinkie" around table bay and table mountain. This houses cape Town and the world famous Table mountain. Then South Africa runs on to a unique Nature reserve or National Park, that is covered with the famous Macchia or Cape Floral Kingdom and its endemic denisens such as the "dassie" or rock hyrax. And, finally, South Africa ends in the southern-most point, Cape Aghulas. If you have never been there, and even if youv'e been there and like a mediteranean climate, but with a unique charm of its own, The Cape and cape Town, is always worth a visit. Even we desert folks go there once in a while for a bit of green, a bit of cold wet winter weather, wine and culture. Once you have seen Cape Town and its charms, you may be thinking about seeing a bit more of our beautiful country. You will find enough web sites, brochures and other info about other parts of South Africa on the South Africa links page, and I'm not going to discuss these places or areas here. I want to tell you about the Kalahari desert, that magical piece of remote real estate, that could easily have been the biblical "Paradise" and that is now smothered by vividly red sand, and guarded by the "fiery sword" of the fierce desert sun. As explained on the page about the weather of Africa, the climate of South Africa is regulated mainly by four factors:
South Africa has the cold Benguella current running down its western coast and the warm Mocambique current running down its Eastern side. These two currents meet at Cape Town (or rather Cape Aghulhas to be precise). The force of these two dissimilar currents The lower part of the face as seen on the outline map of Africa, represents south Africa and the shad, is one of the reasons why Cape Town was once known as "Cabo Tormentosa" or Cape of Storms. One of the Portuguese seafarers, who was a marketing genius by the looks of it, changed the name to "Cabo de bomna Esperanca" or "Cape of Good Hope", which has certainly improved Cape Towns image! To the north of Cape town, which is situated in the Western Cape province of South Africa, Is the Northern Cape province. The far north of this Province is where the exotic kalahari desert is found. The magical kalahari desert and the mystical Kalahari desert about which I will give you more info on other pages.Kalahari index info More information| HOME | | South Africa - people culture | South Africa diamonds | South Africa wineland tours | | Private tours - South Africa | South Africa Tribes | Camels Africa | South Africas | | South Africa game viewing tours | E-mail Site Owner at info@abbott-infotech.co.za | |
