About Us

Southern Africa spans an immense 6.8 million square kilometer’s, a vast region where the land meets two great oceans — the Indian Ocean to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

Southern Africa is generally understood to include Angola, Botswana, the Comoros, Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In cultural geography, however, Madagascar is often excluded due to its unique language and distinct cultural heritage.

From a physical geography perspective, the sub-region is defined more narrowly as the part of Africa lying south of the Cunene and Zambezi Rivers — encompassing Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and the southern portion of Mozambique below the Zambezi River.
This narrower definition of Southern Africa is most often used in South Africa within the natural sciences and in specialist guidebooks such as Roberts’ Birds of Southern Africa, the Southern African Bird Atlas Project, and Mammals of the Southern African Sub-Region. It is rarely applied in political, economic, or human geography, as it divides Mozambique into two distinct parts. From a physical geography perspective, the sub-region is defined more narrowly as the part of Africa lying south of the Cunene and Zambezi Rivers — encompassing Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and the southern portion of Mozambique below the Zambezi River.
This narrower definition of Southern Africa is most often used in South Africa within the natural sciences and in specialist guidebooks such as Roberts’ Birds of Southern Africa, the Southern African Bird Atlas Project, and Mammals of the Southern African Sub-Region. It is rarely applied in political, economic, or human geography, as it divides Mozambique into two distinct parts.