Jungle George 🌿🌳🌴 on Nostr: South Africa truly lives up to its nickname, "the world in one country," as shown by ...

South Africa truly lives up to its nickname, "the world in one country," as shown by its diverse climate zones on the Köppen-Geiger map. From the Mediterranean climate of Cape Town with hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters, to the arid deserts of the Kalahari and the Karoo and the lush, subtropical coastlines of KwaZulu-Natal, and even rain forests along the garden route, the country’s geography offers a little bit of everything. Even the cooler, mountainous regions like the Drakensberg bring winter snow into the mix. This variety supports a rich biodiversity.

The fynbos biome for example supports over 9,000 plant species, with around 70% of them being endemic, meaning they are found nowhere else on Earth. The UK in comparison, besides being more than twice the size of this biome area supports only about 1,500 native plant species.