As HMS Endurance and her crew come towards the end of their 2003/2004 deployment, they have made their way to Cape Town, South Africa.
South Africa is a large and diverse country and can be found on the southern tip of the continent of Africa (see map below). Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Mozambique border South Africa to the north and Lesotho towards the south-east. The Republic of South Africa covers 1.23 million sq. km - an area the size of France and Spain combined.
South Africa is a multiparty democracy within the Commonwealth. There are nine provinces, each with its own government: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Kwazulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, NorthWest, Northern Cape and Western Cape. With a population of over 44 million, South Africa has 11 official languages: Zulu, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Pedi, English, Sotho, Ndebele, Setswana, Venda, siSewati and Tsonga.
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South Africa