2394 SOUTH AFRICA - Paarl - part of Early Farmsteads of the Cape Winelands (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

Located just outside Cape Town, in the Western Cape province, Paarl is the third oldest European settlement in South Africa and the largest town in the Cape Winelands, which have gained acclaim the world over for the fabulous wines that it produces as well as the natural beauty of the area. The name Paarl means "pearl" and reflects the iconic rounded shape of three granite outcrops forming the top of Pearl Mountain, visible for miles.

2286 SOUTH AFRICA - The people and their traditions

South Africa is a nation of about 55 million (2016) people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions. However by far the major part of the population (76.4% in 2011) classifies itself as African or black, but it is not culturally or linguistically homogeneous. Major ethnic groups include the Zulu, Xhosa,  Basotho (South Sotho), Bapedi (North Sotho), Venda, Tswana, Tsonga, Swazi and Ndebele, all of which speak Bantu languages.

1643 SOUTH AFRICA - Cape Point in Table Mountain National Park - part of Cape Floral Region Protected Areas (UNESCO WHS)

Cape Point is a promontory at the southeast corner of the Cape Peninsula, which is a mountainous and scenic landform that runs north-south for about 30km at the extreme southwestern tip of the African continent. The cape is located at about 2.3km east and a little north of the Cape of Good Hope on the southwest corner. Although these two capes are very well known, none of them is actually the southernmost point in Africa; that is Cape Agulhas, approximately 150km to the east-southeast.

0790 SOUTH AFRICA - Shangaan warriors

The Tsonga people inhabit the southern coastal plain of Mozambique, parts of Zimbabwe and Swaziland, and Mpumalanga and Limpopo Province of South Africa. The Tsongas are a diverse population, generally including the Shangaan, Thonga, Tonga, and several smaller ethnic groups. Actually depending on the ethnic groups included in Tsongas can say that are between 4.5 and 13 million, so they are a minority in one country, but a majority in the subcontinent. Although many of them are Christians, many also adhere to their own traditional religion, which entails constant attention to the propitiation of ancestral spirits.

0487 SOUTH AFRICA - A condensing steam locomotive, Class 25 4-8-4

Of all the 487 postcards that I posted so far on this blog, this one gave me the most problems of documentation. Ado said that she found it among his father's things, a trains enthusiast who has worked in this area in the 1950's in Rhodesia. On the other hand, the stamp, showing Victoria Falls from the air, was issued by Northern Rhodesia, and on the postcard writes Zuid Afrikaanse Spoorwegen (South African Railways). All these may be a starting point.

0212 SOUTH AFRICA (KwaZulu-Natal) - Two Zulu children

In 1879, at Isandlwana (now in KwaZulu-Natal province, at 169 km north by northwest of Durban), the Zulu warriors led by Ntshingwayo Khoza effectively annihilated the British Army, even managing to stop, for a short time, the British invasion of Zululand. Was the worst defeat of British Army against a technologically inferior indigenous force from its history. The assegai iron spears and cow-hide shields defeated the breech-loading rifle, the artillery, and the rocket battery. More about this battle when I will receive a postcard with Zulu warriors. Now I have only a picture of two descendants of these warriors.

0164 SOUTH AFRICA (KwaZulu-Natal) - Maloti-Drakensberg Park (UNESCO WHS)

The Maloti-Drakensberg Park is a transboundary site composed of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park in South Africa and the Sehlabathebe National Park in Lesotho. Drakensberg (Mountains of Dragons) are some of the oldest mountains in the world, which form a 300km border between Lesotho and South Africa. Much of the Drakensberg area lies on the high plateau above 3,000m of Lesotho, bounded by the Drakensberg escarpment to the east, north, and south extending into South Africa.

0122 SOUTH AFRICA (Gauteng) - The great, wealthy and choleric Johannesburg

A dusty, harsh and disorganized settlement located to the end of the world, populated by white miners from all continents, black tribesmen who perform unskilled work, African women who cook for and sell beer to the black workers, European or South African prostitutes, gangsters from New York and London, impoverished Afrikaners, insidious tradesmen, and AmaWasha (Zulu men who dominate laundry work), all in search of better opportunities, so it was Johannesburg to the end of the 19th century, after that in 1886 had been discovered gold in the range of hills named Witwatersrand, the source of 40% of the gold ever mined from the earth.