country pongolapoort nature reserve
Pietermaritzburg ( Zulu : umGungundlovu ) is the capital and second - largest city in the province of KwaZulu - Natal , ___MASK87___ and is also regarded as the birth place of legends . It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality . Its Zulu name umGungundlovu is the name used for the district municipality . Pietermaritzburg is popularly called Maritzburg in English and Zulu alike , and often informally abbreviated to PMB . It is a regionally important industrial hub , producing aluminium , timber and dairy products . It is home to many schools and tertiary education institutions , including a campus of the University of KwaZulu - Natal . It had a population of 228 , 549 in 1991 ; the estimated current population is around 500 , 000 ( including neighbouring townships ) and has one of the largest populations of Indian South Africans in ___MASK87___ . ___MASK91___ ( or ), officially the Republic of ___MASK91___ ( or "") is a country in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east , Tanzania to the north , ___MASK86___ and Zambia to the northwest , ___MASK93___ to the west , and Swaziland and ___MASK87___ to the southwest . It is separated from Madagascar by the ___MASK91___ Channel to the east . The capital and largest city is Maputo ( known as " Lourenço Marques " before independence ). KwaZulu was a bantustan in ___MASK87___ , intended by the apartheid government as a semi - independent homeland for the Zulu people . The capital was moved from Nongoma to Ulundi in 1980 . Durban ( from " itheku " meaning " bay / lagoon ") is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu - Natal . Durban ' s metropolitan municipality ranks third among the most populous urban areas in ___MASK87___ after Johannesburg and Cape Town . It is also the second most important manufacturing hub in ___MASK87___ after Johannesburg . It forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality . Durban is famous for being the busiest port in ___MASK87___ . It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism because of the city ' s warm subtropical climate and extensive beaches . The municipality , which includes neighbouring towns , has a population of almost 3 . 5 million , making the combined municipality one of the biggest cities on the Indian Ocean coast of the African continent . It is the largest city in KwaZulu - Natal which is the 2nd most populous province in ___MASK87___ . It has the highest number of dollar millionaires added per year of any South African city with the number rising 200 % between 2000 and 2014 . Pongolapoort Nature Reserve is a park in the Umkhanyakude District of Kwazulu - Natal , about 30 km southeast of the town Pongola . Within the nature reserve is the Pongolapoort Dam , also known as the Jozini Dam . Many bird species can be found here . The construction of the dam reduced flooding but also hurt the fishing industry . ___MASK87___ , officially the Republic of ___MASK87___ ( RSA ), is the southernmost country in Africa . It is bounded on the south by of coastline of ___MASK77___ stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans , on the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia , Botswana and ___MASK93___ , and on the east and northeast by Mozambique and Swaziland , and surrounding the kingdom of Lesotho . ___MASK87___ is the 25th - largest country in the world by land area , and with close to 56 million people , is the world ' s 24th - most populous nation . It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere . It is the only country that borders both the ___MASK75___ and the Indian Ocean . About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub - Saharan African ancestry , divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages , nine of which have official status . The remaining population consists of Africa ' s largest communities of European ( white ), Asian ( Indian ), and multiracial ( coloured ) ancestry . Gauteng , which means " place of gold ", is one of the nine provinces of ___MASK87___ . It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after ___MASK87___ ' s first all - race elections on 27 April 1994 . It was initially named Pretoria  Witwatersrand  Vereeniging ( PWV ) and was renamed " Gauteng " in December 1994 . ___MASK81___ , officially the Kingdom of ___MASK81___ ( or ; Swazi : " Umbuso weSwatini " ; sometimes called kaNgwane or Eswatini ), is a sovereign state in ___MASK77___ . It is neighboured by Mozambique to its northeast and by ___MASK87___ to its north , west and south . The country and its people take their names from Mswati II , the 19th - century king under whose rule Swazi territory was expanded and unified . A park is an area of natural , semi - natural , or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats . It may consist of grassy areas , rocks , soil , and trees , but may also contain buildings and other artifacts such as monuments , fountains or playground structures . In North America , many parks have fields for playing sports such as soccer , baseball and football , and paved areas for games such as basketball . Many parks have trails for walking , biking and other activities . Some parks are built adjacent to bodies of water or watercourses and may comprise a beach or boat dock area . Often , the smallest parks are in urban areas , where a park may take up only a city block or less . Urban parks often have benches for sitting and may contain picnic tables and barbecue grills . Parks have differing rules regarding whether dogs can be brought into the park : some parks prohibit dogs ; some parks allow them with restrictions ( e . g ., use of a leash ); and some parks , which may be called " dog parks ", permit dogs to run off - leash . The Province of Natal , commonly called the Natal Province , was a province of ___MASK87___ from 1910 until 1994 . Its capital was Pietermaritzburg . The Natal Province included the bantustan of KwaZulu . The majority of the white population were English - speaking , causing Natal to become the only province to vote " no " to the creation of a republic in the referendum of 1960 . In the latter part of the 1980s , Natal was in a state of violence that only ended with the first multiracial elections in 1994 . A Bantustan ( also known as Bantu homeland , black homeland , black state or simply homeland ) was a territory set aside for black inhabitants of ___MASK87___ and South West Africa ( now ___MASK24___ ), as part of the policy of apartheid . Ten Bantustans were established in ___MASK87___ , and ten in neighbouring South West Africa ( then under South African administration ), for the purpose of concentrating the members of designated ethnic groups , thus making each of those territories ethnically homogeneous as the basis for creating " autonomous " nation states for ___MASK87___ ' s different black ethnic groups . KwaZulu - Natal ( also referred to as KZN and known as " the garden province ") is a province of ___MASK87___ that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu (" Place of the Zulu " in Zulu ) and Natal Province were merged . It is located in the southeast of the country , enjoying a long shoreline beside the Indian Ocean and sharing borders with three other provinces and the countries of ___MASK91___ , ___MASK81___ and Lesotho . Its capital is Pietermaritzburg and its largest city is Durban . It is the 2nd most populous province in ___MASK87___ , with slightly fewer residents than Gauteng . ___MASK92___ , officially the Kingdom of ___MASK92___ , is an enclaved , landlocked country in ___MASK77___ completely surrounded by ___MASK87___ . It is just over in size and has a population slightly over two million . Its capital and largest city is Maseru . The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the ___MASK26___ ' s oceanic divisions , covering ( approximately 20 % of the water on the Earth ' s surface ). It is bounded by Asia on the north , on the west by Africa , on the east by ___MASK73___ , and on the south by the Southern Ocean or , depending on definition , by ___MASK36___ . It is named after the country of India . The Indian Ocean is known as " Ratnkara ", "" the mine of gems "" in ancient Sanskrit literature , and as " Hind Mahsgar ", "" the great Indian sea "", in Hindi . In botany , a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem , or trunk , supporting branches and leaves in most species . In some usages , the definition of a tree may be narrower , including only woody plants with secondary growth , plants that are usable as lumber or plants above a specified height . Trees are not a taxonomic group but include a variety of plant species that have independently evolved a woody trunk and branches as a way to tower above other plants to compete for sunlight . In looser senses , the taller palms , the tree ferns , bananas and bamboos are also trees . Trees tend to be long - lived , some reaching several thousand years old . The tallest known tree , a coast redwood named Hyperion , stands high . Trees have been in existence for 370 million years . It is estimated that there are just over 3 trillion mature trees in the ___MASK26___ .