A nation with eleven official languages, innumerable cultural influences -- from the anakwetha to the Zulu dancer, and nine provinces that cover no less than seven separate vegetation biomes, South Africa boasts a complexity of geology, climate, culture and biodiversity shared by no other country in the world. This remarkable portfolio of images reflects the many extraordinary faces of this land of contrasts: from the Cape's famous landmark of Table Mountain, along the flower routes of the West Coast into the semi-desert reaches of the Kalahari and the Northern Cape to the rich cultural heritage that seems to permeate every corner -- from the traditional homesteads of the Wild Coast and battlefields of the Drakensberg foothills, to the farmland of the Free State and the great cities of Gauteng. The book traces the vast and complicated heritage of indigenous people and settlers, and the places -- flora and fauna, beaches and mountains, deserts and rainforests -- that make up this land of exceptional contrasts.