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SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa is a large, diverse and incredibly
beautiful country. The size of France and Spain
combined, it varies from the picturesque Garden
Route towns of the Western Cape to the raw stretch
of subtropical coast in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
It's also one of the great cultural meeting points
of the African continent, a fact obscured by years
of enforced racial segregation, but now manifest
in the big cities.
Yet South Africa is also something of an enigma;
it has the best travel facilities on the African
continent, but also the most difficult surface
to scratch. After so long as an international
pariah, the "rainbow nation" is still struggling
to find its identity. Many visitors are pleasantly
surprised by South Africa's excellent infrastructure,
which draws favourable comparison with countries
such as Australia or the United States.
Good air links and bus networks, excellent roads
and a growing number of first-class B&Bs and guesthouses
make South Africa a perfect touring country and
– with the dramatic slide of the rand in 2001
– a cheap one too for visitors. For those on a
budget, rapidly mushrooming backpacker hostels
and backpacker buses provide an efficient means
of exploring. However, as a visitor, you'll have
to make an effort to meet members of the country's
African majority on equal terms. Apartheid may
be dead, but its heritage continues to shape South
Africa in a very physical way.
The country was organized for the benefit of whites,
so it's easy to get a very white-orientated experience
of Africa. Nowhere is this more in evidence than
in the layout of towns and cities, where African
areas – often desperately poor – are usually tucked
out of sight. Some visitors are surprised to discover
that South Africa's population doesn't reduce
simply to black and white.
The country's majority group are Africans (77
percent of the population); whites make up 11
percent, followed by coloureds (9 percent) – the
descendants of white settlers, slaves and Africans,
who speak English and Afrikaans and comprise the
majority in the Western Cape. Indians (3 percent),
most of whom live in KwaZulu-Natal, came to South
Africa at the beginning of the twentieth century
as indentured labourers. Crime isn't the indiscriminate
phenomenon that press reports suggest, but it
is an issue. Really, it's a question of perspective
– taking care but not becoming paranoid. Statistically,
the odds of becoming a victim are highest in downtown
Johannesburg, where violent crime is a daily reality.
Other cities present a reduced risk – similar
to, say, some parts of the United States; many
country areas are safe by any standards.
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