Южно-Африканская Республика: География и Ландшафт

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South Africa occupies the southern tip of Africa, its coastline stretching more than from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic (western) coast southwards around the tip of Africa and then northeast to the border with Mozambique on the Indian (eastern) coast. The low lying coastal zone is narrow for much of that distance, soon giving way to a mountainous escarpment (Great Escarpment) that separates the coast from the high inland plateau. In some places, notably the province of KwaZulu Natal in the east, a greater distance separates the coast from the escarpment. Although much of the country is classified as semi arid, it has considerable variation in climate as well as topography. The total land area is It has the 23rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of
The South African central plateau contains only two major rivers: the Limpopo (a stretch of which is shared with Zimbabwe), and the Orange (with its tributary, the Vaal) which runs with a variable flow across the central landscape from east to west, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at the Namibian border. The eastern and southern coastal regions are drained by numerous shorter rivers. There are very few coastal rivers along the arid west coast north of 31°30′S. In such a dry country, dams and irrigation are extremely important: the largest dam is the Gariep on the Orange River.

Like much of the African continent south of the Sahara, South Africa's landscape is dominated by a high Central Plateau surrounded by coastal lowlands. This plateau is rimmed by the Great Escarpment which extends northwards to about 10° south of the Equator (i. e. into Angola in the west, and the Muchinga Escarpment in Zambia in the east.)

In South Africa the plateau is at its highest in the east where its edge varies in altitude between 2,000 m and 3,300 m. This edge of the plateau, as the land drops sharply to the coastal plain, forms a very high, steep escarpment known as the Drakensberg Mountains. The southern and western extents of the escarpment are not so high as Drakensberg, but also are known by a wide variety of local names, all termed "mountains" (or "berge" in Afrikaans), in spite of being parts of an escarpment whose top is the central plateau, such as Groenberg Mountain. From the coastal plain the escarpment does, however, look like a range of mountains, hence the names. The portion of the Great Escarpment that could be designated a "mountain" is where it forms the international border between KwaZulu Natal and Lesotho. The Lesotho Highlands form a localized high spot on the Central Plateau. This is because it is capped by a 1,400 m thick layer of erosion resistant lava which welled up and spread across most of Southern Africa when it was still part of Gondwana. Most of this lava has eroded away together with a layer of Karoo sedimentary rocks several kilometres thick on top of which the lava was poured out 182 million years ago. Only a small patch of this lava remains and covers much of Lesotho. It has been deeply eroded by the tributaries of the Orange River which drain these highlands towards the south west (i. e. away from the Escarpment). This gives this high region its very rugged, mountainous appearance.

The central plateau (apart from the Lesotho Highlands) forms a largely flat, tilted surface which, as indicated above, is highest in the east, sloping gently downwards to the west (at about 1,000 m above sea level). The downward slope to the south is less pronounced (the southern and south western edges of the plateau are at about 1600 to 1900 m above sea level). The plateau also slopes downwards, northwards from about the 25° 30' S line of latitude, into a 150‑million year old failed rift valley which cuts into the central plateau and locally obliterates the Great Escarpment, forming what is today known as the Limpopo Lowveld at less than 500 m above sea level. The rivers which drain the plateau therefore run west, ultimately, via the Orange River, into the Atlantic Ocean. North of the Witwatersrand, where the land starts to slope down towards the north, the drainage is into the Limpopo River and from there into the Indian Ocean.

The coastal plain, which varies in width from about 60 km in the north west to over 250 km in the north east, generally slopes gently downwards from the foot of the escarpment to the coast. Numerous relatively small rivers drain the area, being more numerous in the KwaZulu Natal and Eastern Midlands regions, where they arise on the well watered slopes of the high escarpment, than elsewhere. In the west there are very few such rivers because of the aridity of the region.

In the south and south west the coastal plain contains a series of mountain ranges that run parallel to the coastline. These are the Cape Fold Mountains, whose rocks were laid down 510 – 350 million years ago, and were then crumpled into a series of parallel folds by the collision of the Falkland Plateau into the south of what was to become Africa when it was part of Gondwana. These series of parallel folds are in the form of an "L", with the western section running north–south, and the eastern section running east–west, for a total length of about 800 km. The right angle of the "L" occurs in the south western corner of the country, just inland from the Cape Peninsula and Cape Town. These folds lie along the coastline in the south and are not much more than 100 km wide in total along most of their length. In the west they are separated from the coast by a pronounced coastal plain. The floors of the long valleys between the parallel mountains ranges consist of fertile soils composed of weathered mudstones belonging to the Bokkeveld Group of the Cape Supergroup, These lowlands, below about altitude, form South Africa's northern border with Botswana and Zimbabwe, where a 180‑million year old failed rift valley cuts into Southern Africa's central plateau and locally obliterates the Great Escarpment. The Lowveld is known for its high concentration of big game, including the larger animals, like African elephants, rhino, African buffalo, the big cats (lions, leopards, and cheetahs), the plains zebra, and a wide variety of antelope, while the slow flowing streams and wetlands of the Lowveld are a haven for the hippos and crocodiles. The bird life is also astoundingly abundant and varied. This wildlife is particularly concentrated in the Kruger National Park located in the eastern Lowveld areas of Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces, along almost the entire border with Mozambique. But many private game farms and game reserves can also be found elsewhere in the Lowveld.

The Lowveld partly overlaps with a dry savanna ecoregion known as the Bushveld, a basin characterized by open grasslands with scattered trees and bushes. Elevation varies between 600 metres and about 900 metres above sea level. The Bushveld is one of the largest and best known layered igneous mineral complexes in the world. Covering an area roughly 350 kilometres by 150 kilometres, the Bushveld has extensive deposits of platinum and chromium and significant reserves of copper, fluorspar, gold, nickel, and iron. The northern edge of the Bushveld, where the plains rise to a series of high plateaus and low mountain ranges, form the southern edge of the Lowveld and the Limpopo River Valley in Northern Province. These mountains include the Waterberg, and the Soutpansberg Range. The Soutpansberg Range reaches an elevation of 1,700 meters before dropping off into the Limpopo River Valley and the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. West of the Bushveld, Highveld, and Lowveld is the southern basin of the Kalahari Desert, which borders Namibia and Botswana at an elevation of 600 meters to 900 meters.

The western section of South Africa on the inland side of the Cape Fold Mountains is dominated by the Great Karoo, a semi desert region that is divided by the Great Escarpment into the Upper Karoo (at an elevation of 1,100–1,600 m) and the Lower Karoo (at an elevation of 600–800 m). Separated from the Great Karoo by the Swartberg mountain range is the Little Karoo. In the southwest, running parallel to the coastline, the mountains of the Cape Fold Belt form a series of ranges that run in the form of an "L" by a series running north–south, and another set running east–west, with the junction between the two at the Cape Peninsula. The north–south ranges, paralleling the Atlantic coastline, include the Cederberg and the Groot Winterhoek and have peaks close to 2,000 metres high. The east–west ranges, paralleling the southern coastline, include the Swartberg and the Langeberg with peaks exceeding 2,200 metres. The mountains of the Cape Fold Belt form the southern and western boundaries of the Great Karoo. The other boundaries of the Great Karoo are arbitrary and ill defined. To the north the Karoo grades into even more arid Bushmanland. To the north east, the Orange River is often regarded as the boundary between Karoo and the Highveld. To the east the Karoo fades into the grasslands of the Eastern Midlands. The town of Sutherland is located in the Roggeveld region of the Upper Karoo, with midwinter temperatures as low as −15 °C, and is thought to be the coldest inhabited place in South Africa. The Little Karoo is separated from the Great Karoo by the Swartberg mountain range. It lies in a 290 km long, narrow (40–60 km wide) valley in of the Cape Fold Mountains, with the Swartberg range to the north and the Langeberg Outeniqua range to the south. It is as arid as the Great Karoo, except along the foothills of the Swartberg, which are well watered by streams that cascade down the mountains. The Little Karoo is the centre of the Ostrich farming industry, especially around the town of Oudtshoorn.

KwaZulu Natal is a South African Province that lies entirely below the Great Escarpment, which forms its western and south western boundaries. It therefore constitutes part of the South African "Coastal Belt", which is, over much of this region, more than 220 km wide. The region can be subdivided into three distinct geographic areas. The lowland region along the Indian Ocean coast is extremely narrow in the south, widening in the northern part of the province, while the central Natal Midlands consist of an undulating hilly, 1,000 m high plateau, rising to 1,500 m towards the west, at the foot of the Great Escarpment. The Great Escarpment, known here as the Drakensberg, together with the Lebombo Mountains in the north form the mountainous regions of the province. The coastal regions are typically covered with subtropical thickets, while the deeper ravines and steep slopes of the river valleys host Afromontane Forest. The midlands are covered in moist grasslands with isolated pockets of Afromontane Forest. The north consists, in the main, of moist savanna habitat, whilst the Drakensberg region hosts mostly alpine grassland. Most of the KwaZulu Natal Drakensberg are at an altitude of 2,000 m, but where they form the border with Lesotho they rise to over 3,000 m. The Lebombo mountains are a long narrow range, not much higher than 700 m, that runs along Mozambique's border with South Africa and Eswatini. From Eswatini the range continues south eastwards for about 40 km into KwaZulu Natal. A great number of rivers arise in the Drakensberg. These have cut fairly deep valleys, and occasionally gorges, into the KwaZulu Natal landscape giving the province a very hilly appearance. The Valley of a Thousand Hills, between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, is particularly spectacular. The largest of the rivers is the Tugela, portion of whose waters are pumped over the escarpment on to the Highveld to supplement the water supply to the large industrial cities of Gauteng. The province contains rich areas of biodiversity of a range of flora and fauna. The iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The iSimangaliso Wetland Park, along with uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park and Ndumo, are wetlands of international importance for migratory species, and are designated as Ramsar sites. South Africa signed the 1971 Ramsar Convention to try to conserve and protect important wetlands because of their importance to habitats and numerous species. The region has a varied yet verdant climate thanks to its diverse, complex topography. Generally, the coast is subtropical with inland regions becoming progressively cooler in winter, but hotter in summer (except on the Escarpment). Durban on the coast has an average annual rainfall of 1010 mm. The average midday temperature during summer (January–March) is 28 °C, with the minimum temperatures in the early morning averaging 21 °C. In winter (June–August) the average maximum temperature is 23 °C, and the minimum is 11 °C. The summer temperatures in Pietermaritzburg are similar to those in Durban, but it is considerably cooler in winter. The temperature in Ladysmith, further inland, in the Tugela River Valley, reaches 30 °C in the summer, but may drop below freezing point on winter evenings. The Drakensberg can experience heavy winter snow, with light snow occasionally experienced on the highest peaks in summer. The Zululand coastal region, in the north of the province, has a tropical climate with high humidities, supporting many sugar cane farms. Beaches of KwaZulu Natal are of world class quality. The warm coastal climate means that visitors are attracted to them all year round. Some of the visitors, however, come for the annual late autumn or early winter "sardine run" along the KwaZulu Natal coastline, south of Durban. Referred to as "the greatest shoal on earth", the sardine run occurs when millions of sardines migrate from their spawning grounds south of the southern tip of Africa northward along the Eastern Cape coastline toward KwaZulu Natal. They follow a route close inshore, often resulting in many fish washing up on beaches. The huge shoal of tiny fish can stretch for many kilometres; it is preyed upon by thousands of predators, including game fish, sharks, dolphins, and seabirds. Usually the shoals break up and the fish disappear into deeper water around Durban. Scientists have been unable to answer many questions surrounding this exceptional seasonal event.

[[File:Kokerboom. jpg|thumb|right| 200 px|A sociable weavers' (Philetairus socius) nest in a quiver tree (or kokerboom) (Aloe dichotoma). Quiver trees only occur in Bushmanland, and neighbouring Namaqualand, and Southern Namibia, usually widely scattered across the arid landscape, but occasionally in dense enough stands to qualify as quiver tree "forests", for instance on the outskirts of Kenhardt. Sociable weaver nests are highly characteristic of Bushmanland, but usually on the telephone poles along the roads. In the absence of telephone poles in the treeless plains of Bushmanland quiver trees are favourite nesting sites for sociable weavers. Its wildlife however, both fauna and flora, though sparse, is full of interest. Although the veld is too arid to bloom like that of the West Coast of Namaqualand, even when there is some spring rain, what does appear is highly unusual and often hauntingly beautiful. A highly productive base metal mine on the Aggeneys Farm close to the N14 highway between Upington and Springbok exploits an ore rich in zinc, lead, copper, and silver since 1977. Close by, to the east, is Ghaamsberg which has very large zinc deposits, but the ore is low grade and, therefore, at present, unprofitable to large scale mining. Vaalputs, a nuclear waste repository, has been sited between Bushmanland and the north west of the Great Karoo, and acts as a de facto nature reserve.

Climate change in South Africa is expected to bring considerable warming and drying to much of this already semi arid region, with greater frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heatwaves, flooding and drought. According to computer generated climate modelling produced by the South African National Biodiversity Institute parts of southern Africa will see an increase in temperature by about one degree Celsius along the coast to more than four degrees Celsius in the already hot hinterland such as the Northern Cape in late spring and summertime by 2050. The Cape Floral Kingdom, identified as one of the global biodiversity hotspots, is predicted to be hit very hard by climate change. Drought, increased intensity and frequency of fire and climbing temperatures are expected to push many rare species towards extinction. Multiple entities are working to combat the effects of degradation and drought. In the Port Elizabeth region, national NGO Living Lands had in cooperation with an agricultural insurance company, planted 3.7 million trees as of late 2015, in order to restore the water catchment system and halt erosion.

South Africa has lost a large area of natural habitat in the last four decades, primarily due to overpopulation, sprawling development patterns and deforestation during the 19th century. South Africa is one of the worst affected countries in the world when it comes to invasion by alien species with many (e. g. black wattle, Port Jackson willow, Hakea, Lantana and Jacaranda) posing a significant threat to the native biodiversity and the already scarce water resources. The original temperate forest found by the first European settlers was exploited ruthlessly until only small patches remained. Currently, South African hardwood trees like real yellowwood (Podocarpus latifolius), stinkwood (Ocotea bullata), and South African black ironwood (Olea laurifolia) are under government protection. Statistics from the South African Environmental Affairs department show a record 1215 rhinos were killed in 2014.