South African provinces, found on the map
Find all nine provinces, from tiny Gauteng to the vast Northern Cape.
9 to find, 8 a run.
2 rounds, 6 of 8 to pass each. Pass one and its places are yours.
Every one on the map
Every place listed below can be asked in this game. Places you find in a passed round drop out of your remaining pool.
- Eastern Cape
- Free State
- Gauteng
- KwaZulu-Natal
- Limpopo
- Mpumalanga
- North West
- Northern Cape
- Western Cape
What the map tells you about each one
The paragraph the game shows when you find each one. Reading them first is not cheating.
- Western Cape
- Western Cape holds Cape Town, the winelands and Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa. Its fynbos shrubland is part of the exceptionally diverse Cape Floristic Region.
- Eastern Cape
- Eastern Cape is the heartland of the Xhosa people. Nelson Mandela was born in the village of Mvezo here in 1918.
- Northern Cape
- Northern Cape is the largest province but has the fewest people. Its clear skies host the MeerKAT radio telescope, and Namaqualand bursts into wildflowers each spring.
- Free State
- Free State was the Boer republic of the Orange Free State until 1902. Bloemfontein, its capital, is the judicial capital of South Africa.
- KwaZulu-Natal
- KwaZulu-Natal includes lands associated with the nineteenth-century Zulu kingdom. It contains Durban, part of the Drakensberg and the wetlands of iSimangaliso.
- North West
- North West sits on some of the world’s richest platinum reserves, mined around Rustenburg. The resort of Sun City and Pilanesberg game reserve are here too.
- Gauteng
- Gauteng means place of gold in Sesotho. It covers under 2 percent of the land but holds about a quarter of all South Africans, in Johannesburg, Pretoria and the towns between.
- Mpumalanga
- Mpumalanga means place where the sun rises. It holds the southern half of Kruger National Park and the Blyde River Canyon, one of the largest canyons in the world.
- Limpopo
- Limpopo is named after the river on its northern border. Mapungubwe, the capital of a medieval kingdom that traded gold across the Indian Ocean, lies here.
How this one works
How many provinces are on the map?
9. Every one of them is on the map, and a run asks 8 of them. Pass a round and the places you found in it drop out of the pool, so the next run is what you have left.
What is a round?
A run of 8 questions, and 6 right passes it. 2 rounds cover the whole map, and the counter at the top of the South Africa page counts the ones behind you. Passing is what banks a round's finds: miss the mark and nothing is taken off the map, so every place that round asked about is still there to be asked again. A round is always the places you have not found yet, and when fewer than five are left it is topped up with a few you have found as review, so the last round is never one or two questions. Three quarters of it passes it.
Can I start the map over?
Yes. "Reset this map" under the counter puts all 9 back in the pool and sets the rounds to zero the moment you press it, so the whole map is there to be found again from nothing. It clears this map only; the other maps of South Africa keep their progress.
Do I need an account?
No. The game plays in the page, and a guest's progress is kept in their own browser. Signing in carries it between devices and earns XP for a run.
What happens when I get one wrong?
The map names what you actually hit, then lights up the right answer in green and tells you something about the place. Missing one is how most of this map gets learned.
The other maps of South Africa
Afghanistan has the same map in Provinces of Afghanistan. Argentina has the same map in Argentine provinces and Buenos Aires. Belgium has the same map in Belgian provinces and Brussels. Bulgaria has the same map in Bulgarian provinces. Cambodia has the same map in Cambodia’s provinces and capital. Canada has the same map in Canadian provinces and territories. China has the same map in Chinese provinces. Costa Rica has the same map in Costa Rican provinces. Cuba has the same map in Cuban provinces and Isla de la Juventud. Dominican Republic has the same map in Dominican provinces and National District. Ecuador has the same map in Ecuadorian provinces. Indonesia has the same map in Indonesian provinces. Iran has the same map in Iranian provinces. Laos has the same map in Laos’s provinces and capital. Mongolia has the same map in Mongolian aimags. Nepal has the same map in Nepali provinces. Netherlands has the same map in Dutch provinces. Panama has the same map in Panamanian provinces and comarcas. South Korea has the same map in South Korean divisions. Sri Lanka has the same map in Provinces of Sri Lanka. Thailand has the same map in Thai provinces and Bangkok. Türkiye has the same map in Turkish provinces. Vietnam has the same map in Vietnamese provinces and municipalities. All three together on the South Africa atlas page, the country itself on the South Africa guide, and the other two hundred on the world map.