Borchert - This is South Africa

Published in 2018 by Struik Travel & Heritage (an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd)

Reg. No. 1953/000441/07

The Estuaries No. 4, Oxbow Crescent, Century Avenue, Century City, 7441

PO Box 1144, Cape Town, 8000 South Africa

www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za

First published in hardcover by New Holland Publishers in 1993

Second and third editions published in softcover by New Holland Publishers in 1995 and 2000

Fourth edition published by Struik Travel & Heritage in 2018

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Copyright in text, 1993, 1995, 2000, 2018: Peter Borchert and Sean Fraser

Copyright in photographs, 1993, 1995, 2000, 2018: Individual photographers and/or their appointed agents listed below

Copyright in map, 2018: Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd

Copyright in published edition, 2018: Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd

Publisher: Pippa Parker

Managing editor: Roelien Theron

Designer: Gillian Black

Proofreader: Lesley Hay-Whitton

Reproduction by Hirt & Carter Cape (Pty) Ltd

Printed and bound in China by RR Donnelley Asia Printing Solutions Ltd

978 1 77584 515 7 (Print)

978 1 77584 516 4 (ePub)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner(s).

FRONT COVER: V&A Waterfront, Cape Town. Insets (left to right): Ndebele mural; lion, Kruger National Park; Cape Agulhas lighthouse; wild flowers, Namaqualand; red-headed weaver bird

HALF TITLE: Leopard, MalaMala Game Reserve

TITLE SPREAD: Amphitheatre, uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park

OPPOSITE: Wild flowers, Namaqualand

BACK COVER: Blyde River Canyon, Mpumalanga (top); Camps Bay, Cape Town (bottom)

Key: b = bottom, l = left, m = middle, r = right, t = top

AF = Albert Froneman; AI = Africa Imagery; AP = AfriPics; AVZ = Ariadne Van Zandbergen; FA = Fiona Ayerst; HM= Heather Mason/2summers.net; IOA = Images of Africa; JL = Justin Lee, supplied by Johannesburg In Your Pocket; ND = Nigel Dennis; PC = Peter Chadwick; RDLH = Roger de la Harpe; SA = Shaen Adey; SS = Shutterstock.com; TC = Teagan Cunniffe; VAW = V&A Waterfront; WC/PD = Wikimedia Commons/public domain

Copyright in photographs by Jan du Plessis (JDP) and Roger and Pat de la Harpe Photography (RPDLHP), as follows:

JDP: Cover insets (Agulhas lighthouse; wild flowers) 5; 6; 8; 20; 21t; 26l; 30t, 33b; 34t; 35t; 37; 4041(all); 42t; 4445(all); 50m; 52t; 52b; 53(all); 55bl; 56t; 64tr; 69br; 76m; 77ml; 77br; 80(all); 84mr; 85t; 90b; 91t; 91b; 95t; 96b; 97b; 98b; 100(all); 101bl; 101br; 104t; 106m; 106b; 107bl; 107r; 109tr; 110(all); 111t; 112; 113t; 114t; 117t; 120123(all); 126mr; 127b; 128t; 128m; 131br; 133mr; 133b; 141mr; 141b; 142t; 145tr; 145m; 145b; 146148(all); 149tl; 149b; 150t; 151t; 152153(all); 156157(all); 158m(both); 160.

RPDLHP: Back cover (inset); Title page; 10r; 13; 14(all); 28br; 36t; 39m; 4647(all); 48bl; 48br; 49t; 49b; 50t; 50b; 51t; 51bl; 54(all); 55t; 55m; 55br; 56b; 5861(all); 62bl; 62br; 63(all); 64tl; 64b; 65; 67bl; 70t; 70l; 71b; 7273(all); 74tl; 74br; 75(all); 76t; 76b; 78t; 8182(all); 84tl; 84b; 88t; 88ml; 88b; 92(all); 93b; 96t; 97mr; 98m; 99; 101t; 101ml; 101mr; 102103; 104b; 105b; 106t; 108b; 113b; 114b; 115r; 117m; 117b; 119b; 130t; 136(all); 151b; 158b; 159mr

Copyright in all other photographs, as follows: Cover (main image): TC; cover insets (l to r): (Ndebele home) Mark Lewis/IOA; (lion) Heinrich van den Berg/AI; (red-headed weaver) AF/IOA; Back cover (main image): SA; 23 Walter Knirr/AP; 9 TC; 10l Erhardt Thiel/IOA; 11 HM; 12 RDLH/IOA; 15t Cape Town Archives Repository; 15b ZS1TP, CC BY-SA 3.0, WC; 16t Collection of Library of Parliament; 16b WC/PD; 17l WC/PD; 17r Cedric Weber/SS; 18 TopFoto/ImageWorks/INPRA; 19t HM; 19b Yeshiel Panchia; 21b Angela N Perryman/SS; 22 HM; 23t Gil.K/SS; 23m JL; 23bl JL; 23br Zute Lightfoot/Alamy/AP; 24 courtesy Melrose Arch; 25t HM; 25b Lorne Chapman/Alamy/AP; 26t Angela Buckland; 26mr Blaine Harrington III/Alamy/AP; 26br; 27t Angela N Perryman/SS; 27b Jeremy Jowell/AP; 28t the forum | turbine hall (www.theforum.co.za); 28ml HM; 29 AVZ/AI; 30bl AF/IOA; 30br Iga Motylska; 31 HM; 32t Lottie Gross; 32b AVZ/AI; 33t AVZ/AI; 34bl milosk50/SS; 34br AVZ/AI; 35 Dinah_1/SS; 36m(all) Mark Lewis/IOA; 38(all) courtesy Sun International; 38b Lorna Stanton/AI; 42b Villiers Steyn/SS; 43m Walter Knirr/IOA; 43b PC/AI; 48t ND/IOA; 51tr AF/IOA; 52m ND/AI; 57ml AVZ/AI; 57bl Hein von Hrsten/IOA; 57br Walter Knirr/IOA; 62t SA/IOA; 66t Anthony Grote; 66bl Anthony Grote; 66br Icswart/SS; 67br SA/IOA; 68 TC/Getaway; 69t TC; 69m Jeremy Jowell; 69bl Bob Hilscher/SS; 70mr AF/IOA; 70br AF/IOA; 74m Leonard Hoffmann/IOA; 77t AVZ/AI; 77bl RDLH/IOA; 78ml FA/AI; 78mr FA/AI; 78br RDLH/IOA; 79 FA/AI; 83b TC/Getaway; 85b TC; 8687 Vincent van Oosten/SS; 88mr Hein von Hrsten; 89 PC/AI; 90t TC; 93t TC/Getaway; 94t SA/IOA; 94m Gerhard Dreyer/IOA; 95b Wandel Guides/SS; 98t AVZ/AI; 107t AVZ/AI; 107m AVZ/AI; 108t ND/AI; 109b ND/AI; 111b ND/AI; 115ml ND/AI; 115bl PC/AI; 116 AVZ/AI; 118 Lanz von Hrsten/IOA; 119t donross/SS; 124125 TC; 126tl Iwan Baan/VAW; 126r Iwan Baan/VAW; 126bl Trevor Samson/VAW; 127t VAW; 128bl Moobatto/SS; 129 Art Publishers/AI; 130b Photo Africa SA/SS; 131bl SA; 132t TC; 132br TC; 132bl SA; 133t Eric Miller; 133ml SA; 134t courtesy of The Grand Daddy Boutique Hotel; 134m Yann Macherez; 134b Eclectica Contemporary; 135tl Zubair Sayed; 135tr Zubair Sayed; 135b TC; 137t TC; 137b TC; 138t Michael de Nysschen/SS; 138m SA; 138b SA/IOA; 139 TC; 140 Ethan Daniels/SS; 141ml SA/IOA; 142 Andrea Willmore/SS; 143bl TC/Getaway; 143br SA/IOA; 144 Adam Harrower; 145tl Adam Harrower; 149mr Fairview Wine and Cheese; 150b Art Publishers/AI; 154 Dominique de la Croix/SS; 158t SA/IOA; 159t ND/AI; 159b ND/AI; 159ml PC/AI

CONTENTS

The association of a people with the land they live in is by and large universally complex. The history of countries spans national, regional and local happenings that, together with cultural identities, both ancient and modern, create an intricate web of allegiances and affiliations. South Africa is no different. But in some respects, perhaps, its journey down the path of time to the present has been longer and more complex than most.

Many factors are at play and in this context it would be a brave person, and probably a fairly foolish one, who would venture a tight definition and declare with confidence that This is South Africa. Even an introductory essay such as this will, inevitably, run a gauntlet of criticism for bias, omission, oversimplification and unintended prejudice.

For how can one tell the story of South Africa completely and to the satisfaction of all in the space of a few thousand words? Quite simply, one cannot, and the text and captions for this book make no pretence at doing so. All that is offered here is a series of glimpses, some more personal, others more broadly based, that will give the casual reader particularly the newcomer or tourist a few pointers to this endlessly fascinating and very lovely land.