Official Name: Republic of South Africa
Religions: Predominantly Christian, traditional African, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish
Capital: Pretoria
Per Capita GDP: $3,166
Languages: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu (all official languages)
Currency: South African Rand (~6.4 rand = $1.00 US)
Our Route:  We landed in Johannesburg (direct from Cairo) on mid-September 16, which was early springtime in South Africa.  After our first week in South Africa, we actually had to leave for our two-week Botswana safari, which took us through not only Botswans, but also Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.   After our Botswana and Zimbabwe adventures, we returned to South Africa and picked up a long-term rental car (driving on your own is really the best way to see the country). We then spent five wonderful weeks working our way south from Johannesburg to Swaziland, the Durban coast, the Garden Route, the Little Karoo area, finally arriving in Cape Town on November 5.  We spent some time in Cape Town on our own before meeting up with our friends, Chris and Jamie, who flew in from San Francisco to spend a week with us in Camp's Bay before moving on to Botswana for their own safar. South Africa was our favorite country by far!

 

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