The total land area of South Africa is slightly more than 1.2 million square kilometers, and has 2798 km of coastline.
The legislative capital is Cape Town, the administrative capital is Pretoria, and the biggest city is Johannesburg. A good rail and road system links all major centres.
There are nine provinces.
Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape in the west and south.
Free State in the central region.
Limpopo and North West in the north and northwest.
Kwa Zulu-Natal in the eastern region.
Gauteng and Mpumalanga in the northeast.
The countries that border South Africa are Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia.
On the eastern coast is the warm Indian Ocean and on the western coast is the cool South Atlantic ocean.
There are two other countries within South Africa. They are Lesotho and Swaziland. In South Africa we have 11 official languages that we speak. They are: Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, English, Sotho, Ndebele, Pedi, Swazi, Tsongo, Tswana, Venda.

THE FLAG
The flag of South Africa has got lots of different colours on it. Red for blood; blue for open skies; green for the land; Black for the black people; white for the European people; yellow for the natural resorces. The Y symbolizes the merging nationalities.

PRESIDENTS
Our ex President is Nelson Mandela. From 1964 to 1990, Mandela was imprisoned for opposing South Africa's white minority government and its policy of racial separation, known as apartheid. Nelson Mandela was the first blakc president of South Africa. Nelson Mandela served as President from 1994 to 1999; when he was succeded by his deputy Thabo Mbeki. Now Thabo Mbeki is President.

Our President is Thabo Mbeki. He has been president from 1999 till 2004 which is 6 years. He also lives in Pretoria. Before him was Mandela. We are blessed to live in South Africa.
Ten years ago there was no freedom but this year we are celkebrate ten years of democracy. Nelson Mandela stopped the apartheid. He was sent to jail on Robben Island.

THE WEATHER
In summer (which is usually from mid-October to February) most of the country has hot weather but sumetimes in the afternoons there is rain.
In winter (which is usually from May to July) the days are sunny and dry but the nights are cold. The high mountains of the Drakensberg and the Cape usually get snow.
Spring (which is from August to October) is when new things start to grow. Bright green buds appear on trees and flowers, and grass start growing.

FAMOUS PLACES
Table Mountain is a famous place in Cape Town. Table Mountain is Cape Town's most famous landmark and the one of the city's greatest attractions. There are over 100 scenic ways to climb the mountain, which stands at 1086 metres above sea level, but most people take the revolving cable car which whisks you to the top in a just few minutes. The views in all directions are magnificent and the feeling of being on top of the world is what makes this such a popular destination. It's best to visit on a clear day, though a tablecloth of clouds can descend at any time, flowing over the edge like a breaking wave.

Kruger National Park is the largest game reserve in the world. It has over 1 million animals and has plenty of birds. Kruger is also one of the oldest game reserves in the world.

Bird: The Blue Crane
The Blue Crane has very long legs and a very long neck. There are fifteen Crane species. You would find Blue Cranes in grassy lands in Natal. The Blue Crane eats seeds, insects and reptiles. The colour of a Blue Crane is blue and grey.

CHARLIZE THERON was born in Benoni, South Africa. She was born on August 7th 1975. She went to a school in Johannesburg to study dancing and take part in New york's Joffrey Ballet. Charlize is a professional in dancing and acting. Charlize won an Oscar Award for Best Actress this year. South Africa is very proud of Charlize.

MARK SHUTTLEWORH was the first South African man to go to the moon!
In April 2002 he travelled to Star City, Russia, for a flight to the international Space station!! Mark was born in a town called Welkom, and grew up in Cape Town. He now currently lives in London when bnot on assignments.

NATALIE DU TOIT is South Africa's world famous swimmer. When she was training to be the Olympics Games she had a bad car crash and the doctors were forced to cut her leg off. That caused her to take part in the Para Olympics and she won lots of medals.

DR CHRIS BARNARD South African professor Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant in the world on the third of December 1967 at Groote Schuur hospital.