Amongst the many worlds of South Africa, our travelers have some favorites: the great game paradise of Kruger National Park; the cosmopolitan energy of Cape Town; the lush serenity of the Garden Route, a world-class coastline of forested hills, deep lagoons, and shining white beaches; and the Wine Country, all of which stack up well with the best the world as to offer.

• TOTAL AREA: 1,219,912 sq km

• LAND AREA: 1,219,912 sq km

• WATER AREA: 0 sq km

• POPULATION: 44,187,637

• RELIGIONS: Zion Christian 11.1%, Pentecostal/Charismatic 8.2%, Catholic 7.1%, Methodist 6.8%, Dutch Reformed 6.7%, Anglican 3.8%, other Christian 36%, Islam 1.5%, other 2.3%, unspecified 1.4%, none 15.1%

• LANGUAGES: IsiZulu 23.8%, IsiXhosa 17.6%, Afrikaans 13.3%, Sepedi 9.4%, English 8.2%, Setswana 8.2%, Sesotho 7.9%, Xitsonga 4.4%, other 7.2%

• GOVERNMENT TYPE: Republic

• CAPITAL CITY: Pretoria

• OFFICIAL CURRENCY: rand (ZAR)

• TIME ZONE: GMT/UTC +2