Western Cape Geography

Geography of the Western Cape brought to you by Conference Venues South Africa including Western Cape's climate, location, topography, mountain ranges and weather.

The Western Cape is bordered on the east by the Eastern Cape, the north by the Northern Cape, the west by the Atlantic Ocean and the south by the Indian Ocean. The subantarctic dependency of the Prince Edward Islands is included within the province's administration. The Olifants, Berg and Breede Rivers are major rivers of the province. Cape Town is the capital and other main cities include George, Worcester, Paarl, and Stellenbosch. The Overberg and the Garden Route are popular coastal tourism areas.

The interior forms part of the Karoo Basin and is mostly hilly and arid with a sharp escarpment in the north. The province is the southernmost region of the African continent. Cape Agulhas is the southernmost point in Africa. The total land area is 129,370km. It is roughly the size of England.

Vegetation is also extremely diverse. The Cape Foral Kingdom, one of the world's seven floral kingdoms is almost exclusively endemic to the province. Most of the area is covered with Fynbos, being extremely rich in species diversity, with more plant species occurring on Table Mountain than the entire United Kingdom.

The arid interior is dominated by Karoo drought-resistant shrubbery. The Little Karoo and West Coast are semiarid regions and are typified by many species of acacia trees, succulents and drought-resistant shrubs. The Garden Route is particularly lush, with temperate rainforest covering many areas adjacent to the coast and along the mountain ranges. Typical species are hardwoods of extraordinary height, such as Ironwood, Stinkwood and Yellowwood trees.