|
fiogf49gjkf0d South Africa is a predominantly sunny country, but when it does get cold you really feel it - indoor heating is limited, and everything is geared to fine weather. You'll need to pack with the weather in mind, especially in winter. Southern hemisphere seasons are the reverse of those in the north, with
midwinter
occurring in June and July and
midsummer
over December and January, when the country shuts down for its annual holiday.
South Africa has distinct climatic zones.
Cape Town
and the
Garden Route
coastal belt have a so-called Mediterranean climate, influenced by winds blowing in from the South Atlantic. Summers tend to be warm, mild and unpredictable; rain can fall at any time of the year and winter days can be cold and wet. Many Capetonians regard March to May as the perfect season, when the nagging winds drop, it's beautifully mild and the tourists have all gone home. Subtropical
KwaZulu-Natal
has warm, sunny winters, coral reefs and tepid seas; the province's Drakensberg range sees misty summer days and mountain snow in winter.
Johannesburg
and
Pretoria
lie on a plateau and have a near-perfect climate; summer days are hot, with none of the humidity of the KwaZulu-Natal coast, while the winters are dry with chilly nights. East of Johannesburg, the
Lowveld
, the low-lying wedge along the Mozambique border that includes the
Kruger National Park
, is subject to similar summer and winter rainfall patterns to the Highveld, but experiences far greater extremes of temperature because of its considerably lower altitude.
Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections):
|