The world / South Africa

South Africa

Capital: Pretoria

• Kruger National Park, founded in 1926, is home to 147 species of large mammals, more than any other African game reserve. All of the Big Five live there.
• Pretoria is nicknamed the Jacaranda City because roughly 70,000 jacaranda trees fill its streets with purple blossom each October.
• South Africa has 12 official languages: English, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans and others, plus South African Sign Language. The constitution says they must be treated equitably.
• The sandstone of Table Mountain belongs to the Table Mountain Group, laid down around 450 million years ago. Its cliffs rise almost straight up from the city.
• Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison on Robben Island, which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.

Cities

• Pretoria
• Cape Town
• Johannesburg
• Durban