CAPITAL PRETORIA - POPULATION 45 MILLION - AREA 1,219,912 SQ KM - OFFICIAL LANGUAGES AFRIKAANS, ENGLISH, ISINDEBELE, ISIXHOSA, ISIZULU, SEPEDI, SESOTHO, SETSWANA, SISWATI, TSHIVENDA, XITSONGA
Struggling with a history that includes the Boer Wars and apartheid, South Africa is stepping onto the world stage. Wildlife and wine (best not mixed) are strong draw cards for the Cape, but in 2009 the clash of the codes will bring international attention. The FIFA Confederations Cup kicks off with thousands of international soccer fans taking over the country, and before anyone can catch their breath the touring British Lions will bring the grunt of world-class rugby. Luckily it's still possible to escape to the vineyards of Stellenbosch or Franschoek or to wildlife reserves like Kruger National Park, which will seem tame after all that testosterone.
KIMBERLEY, SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa isn't big on trams. But it is big on holes. Really big. And in Kimberley, epicenter of the Karoo's diamond-mining industry, you can use an elegant example of one to reach a mindboggling instance of the other. Every hour a vintage, 1913 streetcar trundles between Kimberley's City Hall and- well, for want of a better name – the Big Hole. This 214m-deep, 1.6km-perimeter pit is allegedly the largest ever excavated by hand, hacked out since 1871 by pick-wielding prospectors. Riding there by tram - rather than more modern transportation - seems a fitting nod to their low- tech achievement.
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