High veldt charm of South Africa

Following the collapse of the cruel white supremacist regime in 1994, the Republic of South Africa has morphed into a liberal democratic republic offering a tourism experience unparalleled worldwide             On the world leisure tourism map, the Republic of South Africa (RSA, pop. 56 million), perhaps Africa’s largest (1.2 million sq km), most geographically diverse and arguably most economically developed country with a bewildering mix of colour and culture, is the newest kid on the block. Following the collapse of the cruel white supremacist regime in 1994, RSA has metamorphosed into a liberal democratic republic and remains a perennially beautiful land with sun-drenched beaches along its 2,500 km coastline, awesome peaks and vast plains, deserts of sand and scrub and game parks and wildlife unparalleled anywhere in the world.  Sharing international borders with Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Lesotho, RSA is the only country with three capital cities — Cape Town, Pretoria and Bloemfontein. The republic’s 56 million citizens include large European, Indian, and racially mixed populations, who speak 11 languages (including Afrikaans and English) and several hundred dialects. Though RSA’s climate is fairly similar to south India’s hot and sultry weather, its varied topography and oceanic influences provide a variety of climatic zones across the country. The varied landscapes include the parched desert of southern Namib, lush subtropical forests to the east, the mountainous escarpment known as the high veldt and the savannah grasslands of the north-west. Contrary to popular belief, only 1 percent of South Africa is forest, stretched along the humid coastal plain of the Indian Ocean in KwaZulu-Natal. The rest of RSA is the veldt or savannah grasslands, the natural habitat of lions, leopards, white rhinos, blue wildebeest, kudus, impalas, hyenas, hippopotamus and the giraffe. RSA also hosts many endemic species, among them the critically endangered Riverine Rabbit of the Karoo. Though contemporary South Africa has a rich tribal history and culture stretching back several thousand years, its documented history is available only from 1487, when a group of shipwrecked Portuguese sailors were washed up on the coast. In the subsequent two centuries, a number of small fishing settlements were established on the coast by the Portuguese. They were followed by the Dutch East India Company which established a trading post on the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. Soon Dutch immigrants started arriving in larger numbers and as they pushed their way inland, they met with fierce resistance from the Xhosa and Zulu people, against whom they waged the Cape Frontier Wars of the 17th century, eventually succeeding because of superior gunpowder driven weaponry. However in 1795 prompted by the British East India Company which had transformed into a political power on the Indian subcontinent, British troops subjugated the Dutch settlement on the Cape of Good Hope to protect the trade route to India. In 1803, the territory was returned to the Dutch but re-annexed in 1806 after the Dutch East India Company declared bankruptcy. Nevertheless the victorious British troops…