Africa · Southern Africa
How to draw South Africa from memory
South Africa is a single continuous landmass, roughly as wide as it is tall. Lock that proportion in before you worry about any individual stretch of border. Its border sits in the middle of the difficulty range — enough straight sections to anchor you, enough detail to punish a careless stroke.
- Difficulty
- medium
- Population
- 58.6 m
- Code
- ZAF
- Attempts
- 271
- Avg score
- 67
- Best
- 68
Draw South Africa
Practice · draw from memory
South Africa
A four-step strategy for South Africa
- 01
Start by fixing the overall footprint. South Africa is close to square overall, so a lopsided sketch loses points fast.
- 02
Anchor one unmistakable feature — the straightest border section or the sharpest cape — and draw outward from it in a single continuous stroke.
- 03
Close the loop back to where you started. An open shape gets filled unpredictably and drags your score down.
- 04
Submit, read the nine-sector grid, and redraw immediately. The sector readout names the region you under-drew, and a second attempt typically gains 10–20 points.
TealRavenQuick facts
- Continent
- Africa
- Subregion
- Southern Africa
- Outline pieces
- 1
- Detail score
- 2.31
Three things that go wrong when people sketch South Africa
Each one is measured off the outline the game scores, not copied from a reference atlas: the proportions, the straight sections and the way the shape breaks into pieces are all properties of the coordinates your stroke gets compared against.
It narrows sharply toward the north
The outline is 1.9× wider at the bottom of the shape than at the top, so the broad part belongs in the south. Most failed sketches here put the wide section at the wrong end.
South Africa is close to square
Width against height comes out at 1.14 to 1, so the shape neither runs away sideways nor stretches vertically. Set that box first: with a near-square country almost every lost point comes from the coast detail inside it, not the footprint.
Close the loop before adding detail
South Africa occupies a 440×386 unit box on the game canvas. Fill that box with one continuous closed stroke first: the scorer compares filled area, so an open outline loses the interior it never enclosed.
Answer key: the real shape of South Africa
- Box on the canvas
- 440 × 386 units
- Width to height
- 1.14 : 1
- Separate landmasses
- 1
- Longest straight run
- Nothing over 8% of the perimeter
- Coast against silhouette
- 1.44× the wrapping outline
Open it after you have drawn South Africa at least once. Seeing the shape first replaces the recall the score is meant to measure with tracing, and tracing always scores higher than remembering.
Why South Africa is scored this way
Country Drawing does not compare your sketch to a picture of South Africa. It scales and centres both your stroke and the real border into the same box, fills them, and measures how much of the two shapes overlap relative to their combined area. That means you are never punished for drawing South Africa small, off to one side, or rotated slightly — only for getting the shape itself wrong. The nine-sector grid then splits the real border into a 3×3 mesh and reports coverage per cell, which is how it can tell you that you lost the whole eastern edge rather than just handing you a number.
South Africa by the numbers
South Africa covers 1,221,037 km², which makes it the 23rd largest of 190 countries in the game and the 9th largest in Africa. The capital is Pretoria at about 29°S, 24°E, and it sits in Southern Africa. It touches Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini and Zimbabwe, and 100% of its area sits in one main landmass. The rest of the perimeter is water.
Next to South Africa: its land neighbours
Size is what the outline has to fill, so comparing the countries that share this border side by side is the fastest way to get the proportions into your head before you draw.
| Country | Area | Population | Capital | Pieces | vs South Africa |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Africathis page | 1,221,037 km² | 58.6 m | Pretoria | 1 | — |
 Botswana | 582,000 km² | 2.3 m | Gaborone | 1 | 0.48× |
 Lesotho | 30,355 km² | 2.1 m | Maseru | 1 | 0.02× |
 Mozambique | 801,590 km² | 30.4 m | Maputo | 1 | 0.66× |
 Namibia | 825,615 km² | 2.5 m | Windhoek | 1 | 0.68× |
 Eswatini | 17,364 km² | 1.1 m | Lobamba | 1 | 0.01× |
 Zimbabwe | 390,757 km² | 14.6 m | Harare | 1 | 0.32× |
Draw these next
Countries near South Africa share border conventions and coastline styles, which makes them the most useful follow-up practice.
Working through one country at a time is slow. Take the blank map of africa and label the whole region from memory — it shows you which neighbours you have never actually seen.
South Africa drawing questions
How big is South Africa?
South Africa covers 1,221,037 km², ranking 23rd of 190 countries here by land area and 9th in Africa. That is 1.5 times the area of Namibia.
What is the capital of South Africa?
The capital is Pretoria at about 29°S, 24°E. The game scores the shape of the border rather than the position of any city, so the capital and its coordinates are here to help you place South Africa on a blank map.
Is South Africa hard to draw?
It is rated medium, and carries more outline detail than 37% of the 190 borders in this game. The shape has to be placed as 1 landmass, with no straight edge longer than 8% of the perimeter to anchor it.
Which countries border South Africa?
South Africa shares a land border with Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini and Zimbabwe. The remaining perimeter is coast, which is the part that usually costs points.