South Africa is situated at the southern tip of Africa forming part of the Southern Africa region and is bordered by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Swaziland. Lesotho is situated within South Africa’s borders.

Rugby is one of South Africa's big three sports, alongside soccer and cricket. For the many South African fans of the game, rugby is a serious matter, a source of bursting pride and joy - or shattering disappointment.

South Africa has the most advanced economy on the African continent. Since1994, particularly, the country's economy has grown rapidly. Its geographical position provides an ideal gateway to Sub-Saharan Africa.

The most important contributors to the economy include the mining sector, manufacturing and agriculture. Most economic activity takes place in Gauteng where most mining occurs. The country's financial and industrial infrastructure is well-developed with excellent growth potential.

Education is in a state of flux. Under the apartheid system schools were segregated, and the quantity and quality of education varied significantly across racial groups. Although the laws governing this segregation have been abolished, the long and arduous process of restructuring the country's educational system is just beginning.

Less than 10% of the population under 5 is underweight, which is much lower than the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa. Total daily calories consumed remain within the recommended range at approximately 2,800 kcals/day. Iron is readily available in the diet, most of it coming from vegetable sources. Vitamin A levels are low, with slightly more amounts coming from vegetables than meats. The staple starch is maize with vegetables making up the majority of the rest of the daily caloric intake.

South Africa's Geography

South Africa occupies the southern tip of Africa, its long coasline stretching more than 2500km from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic coas, southwards around the tip of Afrcia, then north to the border with subtropical Mozambique on the Indian Ocean.

Size and provinces

South Africa is a medium-sized country, with a total land area of slightly more than 1.2-million square kilometres, making it roughly the same size as Niger, Angola, Mali and Colombia.

It is one-eighth the size of the US, twice the size of France and over three times the size of Germany. South Africa measures some 1 600km from north to south, and roughly the same from east to west.

he country has nine provinces, which vary considerably in size. The smallest is tiny and crowded Gauteng, a highly urbanised region, and the largest the vast, arid and empty Northern Cape, which takes up almost a third of South Africa's total land area.

Cities

South Africa has three capitals: Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Pretoria. The Western Cape city of Cape Town, where the country's Parliament is found, is the legislative capital. In the Free State, Bloemfontein is the judicial capital, and home to the Supreme Court of Appeal. In Gauteng province, Pretoria, where the Union Buildings and a large proportion of the civil service are found, is the administrative capital, and the ultimate capital of the country.

The largest and most important city is Johannesburg, the economic heartland of the country. Other important centres include Durban and Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal, and Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape.

Climate and topography

Although the country is classified as semi-arid, it has considerable variation in climate as well as topography.

The great inland Karoo plateau, where rocky hills and mountains rise from sparsely populated scrubland, is very dry, and gets more so as it shades in the north-west towards the Kalahari desert. Extremely hot in summer, it can be icy in winter.

Habitat types: South Africa has seven major terrestrial biomes, or habitat types - broad ecological life zones with distinct environmental conditions and related sets of plant and animal life.