Story#230
Table Mountain in cloud
We took the cable car up into total white. Visibility was eight metres. Then the cloth lifted for ninety seconds, the whole city appeared below, and it closed again like a curtain.
South Africa
Three capitals, a mountain with more plant species than the United Kingdom, and penguins with right of way.
7 entries · 3 stories, 4 fun facts
South Africa at a glance
The practical numbers, before the stories.
- Capital
- Pretoria (administrative), Cape Town (legislative), Bloemfontein (judicial)
- Currency
- South African rand (ZAR)
- Official language
- 12 official languages, including isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans, English and South African Sign Language
- Climate
- Mediterranean around Cape Town, subtropical on the east coast, dry and continental on the interior plateau.
- Best time to go
- May–September for wildlife, November–March for the Cape
- Time zone
- UTC+2
- Driving side
- Left
- Plugs and voltage
- Type D / M / N, 230 V
Worth knowing: The Cape has a winter rainfall pattern and the rest of the country a summer one - they are opposite.
Planning a trip to South Africa
The decisions that determine whether the trip works, whichever country you are going to.
South Africa has three capitals: Pretoria administrative, Cape Town legislative and Bloemfontein judicial, a compromise dating from 1910. Table Mountain alone hosts more plant species than the whole of the United Kingdom, as part of the tiny Cape Floral Kingdom.
A flat cloud called the tablecloth pours over the mountain when a southeast wind pushes moist air up the slope, and it can close in and lift again within ninety seconds. Caves northwest of Johannesburg have produced some of the richest early hominin fossil finds anywhere. At Boulders Beach, penguins cross the boardwalk in their own order and everyone waits.
Entries from South Africa
Story#234
The penguin commute
African penguins crossed the boardwalk at their own pace and in their own order. A queue of humans waited politely, which felt like the correct arrangement.
Story#237
Braai rules
There is one person at the fire and everyone else offers advice. Nobody touches the tongs. The meat is ready when the person at the fire says it is ready, and not before.
Fun fact#553
South Africa has three capitals
Pretoria is administrative, Cape Town legislative and Bloemfontein judicial, a compromise dating from 1910.
Fun fact#555
Table Mountain has its own cloth
A flat cloud called the tablecloth pours over Table Mountain when southeast winds push moist air up the slope.
Fun fact#557
Cape Town's mountain is a plant hotspot
Table Mountain alone hosts more plant species than the entire United Kingdom, part of the tiny Cape Floral Kingdom.
Fun fact#559
The Cradle of Humankind holds early fossils
Caves northwest of Johannesburg have produced some of the richest early hominin fossil finds anywhere.
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South Africa is one of 36 countries in the library. Read straight through a continent, or start from the map of everywhere we have written about.