South Africa occupies the entire southern part of Africa. Its coastline stretches over 2,850 km, from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, to the border with Mozambique on the Indian Ocean in the northeast. The lower coastal zone is narrow over much of this area, giving way to a mountainous escarpment (Great Escarpment) that separates the coast from the high plateau. In some places, particularly in the KwaZulu-Natal province to the east, a greater distance separates the coast from the escarpment. Although most of the country is classified as semi-arid, the climate and topography vary considerably.
