Which country is an enclave within South Africa?

Lesotho is the country completely enclosed within South Africa. This makes Lesotho an independent sovereign enclave: unlike an ordinary landlocked country, it is surrounded on every side by the territory of one other country.

Officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, it occupies a mountainous area in southern Africa. Its capital, Maseru, lies near the western border with South Africa, while much of the country rises into the Maloti and Drakensberg mountain systems. Lesotho is sometimes nicknamed the “Kingdom in the Sky” because of its high elevation.

Lesotho is one of only three sovereign states entirely surrounded by another country. The other two are Vatican City and San Marino, both enclosed by Italy. Lesotho is the largest of the three and the only such state outside Europe; it is also not a microstate.

A frequent mistake is Eswatini, which borders South Africa but also has an international boundary with Mozambique. Botswana and Zimbabwe likewise share borders with South Africa, so neither is an enclave within it. Lesotho became independent from the United Kingdom in 1966.