September - April is considered the summer period in South Africa, May - August, the winter period. Although the climate varies from region to region in South Africa, it is generally mild and sunny throughout the year. Summer temperatures average between 15-30ºC (60-96ºF) at midday. The southern Gauteng region has hot summers with occasional thundershowers and frosty winters, while the eastern part of this region (known as the Lowveld) enjoys mild winters. The Cape interior and the Free State have similar weather conditions to the southern Gauteng region. The Western Cape region has a Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and cold, wet winters.

Photos of African wildlife can be found in the gallery.

Hluhluwe and Umfolozi Game Reserves
Hluhluwe has been a game sanctuary since 1897 and has recently been combined with the Umfolozi Game Reserve to form South Africa's third largest game park. The park has a huge variety of game including black and white rhino, lion, buffalo, elephant, kudu, impala, nyala and hippo.

Kalahari Gemsbok National Park
Proclaimed a National Park in 1931, this semidesert park is wedged between Namibia and Botswana in the far north of the Cape Province. About half the size of the Kruger National Park, this arid area was once home to Bushmen and a wide variety of animals. Species commonly seen include lion, cheetah, gemsbok, red hartebeest, blue wildebeest, springbok, eland, leopard and hyena.

Kruger National Park
South Africa's largest (7,525 square miles) and most famous wild-animal reserve was established in 1889 to protect South Africa's wildlife and is today a world leader in environmental management. The park contains mores species of wildlife than any other game reserve in Africa. It has large herds of elephant, buffalo, kudu, zebra, impala, both black and white rhino, giraffe, lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, wild dog and 468 species of birds. The park is open to all vehicles and the main roads between rest camps have a hard macadam surface. Visitors are required to stay in their vehicles except at designated rest stops or viewing areas. Driving off the roads is not allowed.

Pilanesburg National Park
The fourth largest national park in southern Africa (212 square miles) is only 70 miles west of Johannesburg. The park is malaria-free and has a mild, dry winter climate - ideal for game viewing. The park has healthy populations of cheetah, zebra, giraffe, springbok and sable antelope. Bird watching is excellent with over 300 species recorded.

Private Game Reserves
South Africa has a number of private game reserves, many of which are situated on the western border of Kruger National Park. There are no fences between them and the park and animals roam unrestricted.

There are 11 official languages in South Africa: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swazi, Tsongo, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu. The English-speaking visitor will have no problem while travelling through the country. Below are a few words and phrases that have been translated into three of the country¹s official languages ­ they should be helpful in most regions:

Here are a few common Afrikaans greetings:

The unit of currency is the Rand, which is divided into 100 cents. Notes are in R200, R100, R50, R20 and R10. Coins are in denominations of R5, R2, R1 and 50c, 20c, 10c, 5c, 2c and 1c.

Current South African Rand exchange rates:

1 United States Dollar = 6.18119 South African Rand