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Africa is a large, scenic splendid and humanly diverse country
and home to approximately 40 million people. It’s
size (1,219,090 square km) makes it bigger than Germany,
France, Italy, Belgium and Holland put together, or Texas
and California combined
Washed by the cold Benguela current on the west coast
and the warm Mozambique-Agulhas current on the east, the
country has a long coastline of 2,954 kilometres, a temperate
climate and a topography ranging from highveld grassland
to bleak semi-desert to subtropical swamps. Within these
contrasting zones, some of the world’s most diverse
animal and plant kingdoms are found. South Africa is the
only country in the world with an entire floral kingdom,
the Cape “fynbos” within it’s boundaries.
It is flanked by the Indian Ocean on the east and the
Atlantic on the west. It is bordered by Namibia to the
north-west, Botswana and Zimbabwe to the north and by
Mozmambique to the north-east, while the tiny land-locked
states of Swaziland and Lesotho, although fully independent
countries, lie within geographical area of South Africa.
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KwaZulu
Natal
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more than any other of South Africa’s nine provinces,
KwaZulu Natal encapsulates the feel of contemporary Africa.
Modern sophistication mixes with old traditional rituals.
The wistful cry of the fish eagle and the cerulean waves
sighing onto the beaches are never far away from urban sophistication.
Before South Africa’s first historic democratic
elections in 1994, the province was known by the colonial
name Natal, which is received from Portuguese explorer
Vasco da Gama. So impressed was he with the beauty of
the coastline when he first caught sight of it on Christmas
day in 1497 that he called it Terra de Natalia. However,
after 1994, the nominally independent homeland of KwaZulu,
joined the rest of the province which then became known
as KwaZulu Natal. eZulweni, from which the name “Zulu”
is derived, means “heaven”, an appropriate
name for a province which is well know for its glorious
subtropical climate, some of the country’s finest
game reserves, its brooding mountain ranges, and its wonderful
beaches, stretching 480 kilometres form the Wild Coast
of the Eastern Cape to the border of Mozambique.
KwaZulu Natal is a destination that continues to intrigue,
challenge and excite visitors, because no matter how much
time you spend here, there is always so much more to see
and experience.
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