South African "Tidbits", A Few Facts Regarding Our Host Country

South Africa’s official name is the Republic of South Africa.

South Africa, on Africa’s southern tip, is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west and by the Indian Ocean on the south and east. It shares borders with Namibia in the northwest, Zimbabwe and Botswana in the north, and Mozambique and Swaziland in the northeast. The kingdom of Lesotho forms an enclave within the southeast part of South Africa. The southernmost point of Africa is Cape Agulhas, located in the Western Cape Province about 100 miles southeast of the Cape of Good Hope.

South Africa is a parliamentary democracy and though much of the population lives in poverty, it is considered a developed country.. All major urban areas have modern, world-class hotels and tourist facilities. Food and water are generally safe. The capital is Pretoria, while the seat of parliament is located in Cape Town. Johannesburg is the financial capital and largest city in South Africa.

South Africa is a multilingual country. Besides the 11 officially recognized languages, many others - African, European, Asian and more - are spoken in the country.

The country's Constitution guarantees equal status to 11 official languages: Afrikaans, English, IsiNdebele, IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, SiSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga

South Africa’s monetary unit is the Rand

Based on 2001 statistics the ethnicity/racial percentages are black African 79%, white 9.6%, colored 8.9%, Indian/Asian 2.5%.

The South African flag is the only national flag to display six colors as part of its primary design: two equal width horizontal bands of red (top) and blue separated by a central green band that splits into a horizontal Y, the arms of which end at the corners of the; the Y embraces a black triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow bands; the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes. The flag colors do not have any official symbolism, but the Y stands for the "convergence of diverse elements within South African society, taking the road ahead in unity"; black, yellow, and green are found on the flag of the African National Congress, while red, white, and blue are the colors in the flags of the Netherlands and the UK, whose settlers ruled South Africa during the colonial era.

Around two thirds of South Africans are Christian of some form including Catholics, Anglicans, Dutch Reformed or African independent churches. There are significant Hindu, Muslim and Jewish communities and traditional African beliefs are also practiced.

Our trip to South Africa has been very short but very rich with experiences, scenery, good food, warmth and hospitality. While we are eager to return home, we will always treasure our time here.