Useful
Information | The Region | Packages
South
Africa
Welcome to
the southern tip of Africa. Here, two great oceans meet, warm
weather lasts most of the year, and big game roams just beyond
the city lights.
This is where humanity began: our
ancestors' traces are still evident in fossilised footprints 80
000 years old, and in the world's oldest rock paintings.
Today, South Africa is the powerhouse
of Africa, the most advanced, broad-based economy on the continent,
with infrastructure to match any first-world country.
You can drive
on wide, tarred highways all 2 000 kilometres from Messina at
the very top of the country to Cape Town at the bottom. Or join
over seven million international travellers who disembark at our
airports every year.
Two-thirds
of Africa's electricity is generated here. Forty percent of the
phones are here. Twenty percent of the world's gold is mined here.
And almost everyone who visits is astonished at how far a dollar,
euro or pound will stretch. Welcome to the Republic of South Africa.
South Africa is a nation of over
46-million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages and
beliefs. Around 79% are black (or African), 9% white, 9% "coloured"
- the local label for people of mixed African, Asian and white
descent - and 2.5% Indian/Asian. Just over half the population
live in the cities.
There are 11 officially recognised
languages, most of them indigenous to South Africa. Around 40%
of the population speak either isiZulu or isiXhosa. You don't
speak either? If your English is passable, don't worry. Everywhere
you go, you can expect to find people who speak or understand
English.
English is the language of the
cities, of commerce and banking, of government, of road signs
and official documents. Road signs and official forms are in English.
The President makes his speeches in English. At any hotel, the
receptionists, waiters and porters will speak English.
