The South African Rand
The South African Rand replaced the british Pound, as South Africa became a republic in 1961.
The official Bank notes in circulation are R200, R100, R50, R20 and R10.
If you look at the pictures carefully you will recognize that the five paper notes illustrate the famous "big-five" of South Africa.The "big-five" are Africa's greatest wild animals.
Today R5 and R2 come as coins. Next thereBs R1, 50c, 20c, 10c, 5c, 2c, and 1c. Coins 2c and 1c were last manufactured in 2005. Today all sums are rounded up or down to 5 cents.
The R5 coin comes in two basic versions. The old version is in silver color only, while the latest version is silver and brass colored, analogical to the 2 Euro coin.
Note that when you throw money into a vending machine, it may only accept the latest version of the R5 coin.
The name CRandD is taken from one of the many South African gold production South African gold production areas called Witwatersrand, just outside of Johannesburg.
The Rand is also the official currency for Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho, making it the currency of southern Africa.
Like the United States Dollar, the colloquial term for the Rand is "buck", and R1000 are also called a "grand".
The South African Rand Exchange Rate
The South African rand exchange rate has been developing to the benefit of all oversees visitors in the past last years.
Of course prices in South Africa have gone up because of this inflation, yet for most of the part you can get brand name products, for a few Dollars or Euros cheaper in South Africa than at home.
On the other hand, the decreasing value of the Rand has meant no good for the South African travelers, who want to travel to Europe and Northern America.
It hasnBt always been the case, however that the Rand is so cheap. In June 1973 the South African rand was worth 1,49 US-Dollars. Until March 1982 the South African rand was worth more than the US-Dollar.
A story of a close friend of mine illustrates the character of the South African rand very well.
As a child he went on holiday to the United States with his family. When arriving in the US and throughout their holiday, they enjoyed the luxury of a cheap US-Dollar in exchange of the strong rand.
When returning to South Africa from vacation, the South African rand exchange had changed to strongly, that the US-Dollars they had left over from their holiday bought more Rand.
Today the US Dollar buys round about 8 South African Rand, and the Euro buys nearly 12 Rand.
