South Africa is located, as one might expect, on the southern tip of Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, the Indian Ocean on the south and east. Along its northern border, from west to east, lie Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, and to the northeast are Mozambique and Swaziland. Wholly-enclosed by South Africa, and situated in its eastern central plain, is the independent kingdom of Lesotho. 

Almost all of South Africa's 472,000 square miles (1.2 million sq. km.) lie below the Tropic of Capricorn, and the country is geographically composed of three primary regions: an expansive central plateau, a nearly continuous escarpment of mountain ranges that ring the plateau on the west, south, and east, and a narrow strip of low-lying land along the coast. Most of the central plateau (and most of the country) consists of high (4,000-6,000 ft/1,220-1,830 m), rolling grassland known as highveld.

Indigenous South African cuisine is not wildly exciting, since African staples include solid dishes like stiff grain porridge and simple sauce-based meat/vegetables, and traditional Afrikaans food tends to be heavier on the waistline than on gourmet value or taste. The distinctive South African contribution to world cuisine is the endearingly named bunny chow, a half-loaf of white bread filled with curried beans, chicken or sardines. A typical South African breakfast is an exercise in extravagance – strips of bacon, eggs and boerewoers swimming in fat. But South Africa does have the unmistakable advantage of being home to a huge range of cultures from around the world and therefore a mouth-watering choice of culinary experiences awaits you – this includes Portuguese, Italian and Indian food. One area where South Africa scores over most African destinations and competes with the best in the world is seafood, cooked in a range of local and international styles.

Religion

Medical facilities in cities and larger towns are world-class but you will find that in rural areas the clinics and hospitals deal with primary health needs, and therefore do not offer the range of medical care that the large metropolitan hospitals do. Trained medical caregivers are deployed round the country, so help is never far away. 

There are a number of health issues that you should be aware of, particularly if you're from the northern hemisphere.

Crime, like anywhere else in the world can be a problem but you really need not do much more than take all the usual sensible precautions. Know where you're going before you set off, particularly at night, watch your possessions, don't walk alone in dodgy areas, lock your doors at night. The usual stuff you probably do at home. Other sensible advice is not to hitchhike or, accept or carry items for strangers.

The currency unit of South Africa is the Rand, denoted by the symbol R. 
1R = 100 cents.

There are units of R200, R100, R50, and R10 notes, as well as coins in R5, R2, 50c, 20c, 5c, 2c and 1c units. Foreign currency can be exchanged at commercial banks, American Express and Rennies Bureau de Change.

There are 11 official languages in South Africa. English is the language of administration and is widely spoken, along with Afrikans. isiXhosa and isiZulu are the most widely spoken African languages. Other languages are Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana and Venda.