South Africa(Republic of South Africa)

As a security measure, windows often have burglar bars fitted on the outside or inside. Fences are also often strung with barbed wire or electric wire.

Front doors often carry a sticker from a security company reading "ADT" or "BLUE".

When present, the outer edge lines are orange, and the center line is white. Sometimes there are no side lines at all.

Sasol is a South African energy and chemicals company with its own gas stations.

Green signs display road numbers like "M1".

Place names often have double-vowel spellings like "oo" or "ee".

Taxis are distinctive — you'll often see van-shaped vehicles.

Slender red-and-white reflector boards are common.

Something like "P522" written on a bollard is a road number — don't miss it.

Occasionally you'll spot a utility pole that wouldn't look out of place in Chile.

If there are no tall trees at all — just hardy, fine-leaved shrubs and thin, grass-like plants covering the slopes — that's fynbos. It runs in a belt 100-200km wide from Western Cape to Eastern Cape.

If neat rows of same-height conifers or eucalyptus cover a hillside as a plantation forest, think KwaZulu-Natal or Mpumalanga (about 80% of plantation forest is in these two provinces).

Vegetation differs by region.

• ① National parks
• ② Savanna
• ③ Grassland Biome: mostly grass
• ④ Nama Karoo: harsh, drought-prone area with scattered shrubs
• ⑤ Succulent Karoo: rich in succulents
• ⑥ Fynbos: mostly Mediterranean climate; much of the vegetation has thin, needle-like leaves

Savanna is found in the northern region and along the coast.

The Grassland Biome forms a ring around Lesotho. You may see flat-topped mountains (the Drakensberg range) in the distance.

The Nama Karoo is a harsh, sometimes drought-stricken environment — in places, nothing grows at all, not even grass.

A dry plain or rocky hillside with almost no grass, dotted instead with round, knee-high or lower succulent shrubs — that's Succulent Karoo. Found from Namaqualand in western Northern Cape to Western Cape.

In national parks, road intersections have distinctive stones, and the natural scenery is lush.

An orchard of dark green, low evergreen trees planted at even spacing, with windbreaks and sprinklers, is citrus. Limpopo has the most (41% of planted area).

If gently rolling hills form an unbroken sea of wheat with rocky mountains rising beyond, that's the Swartland in Western Cape. This grain belt starts about 50km north of Cape Town.

Corn fields are found around northern Free State.

Areas used for grazing sheep and other livestock can't support crops and have little in the way of trees or grass.

Several roads cross the Drakensberg range. Along R301, R323, R324, R62, N1, and others, steep rock faces sometimes rise on both sides of the road.

Around Lesotho, license plates tend to look greenish. Plates from North West Province, Free State Province, and Eastern Cape Province depict grassland and come out green.

If huge, trapezoidal piles of yellowish sand (mine dumps) stand right next to a built-up area, that's the Witwatersrand gold belt. It runs for 56km, centered on Johannesburg.

If a coal-fired power station with rows of huge cooling towers and smokestacks appears beyond a flat grassland, that's the Highveld in Mpumalanga. 12 of the country's 15 large coal-fired power stations are clustered there.

A single-story house with white plastered walls, an ornate curved gable rising only above the center of the front facade, and doors and shutters painted green — that's Cape Dutch style. It's well preserved in the old towns and wine estates of Western Cape.

If you're walking along a road on foot, consider the island of Robben Island. Table Mountain may be visible in the distance.