Home / Explore places / South Africa
Stories Set in South Africa
Apartheid and reconciliation, Joburg aliens, rugby finals and Zulu epics — few nations' stories carry more moral weight. Start with these ten, then open South Africa on StoryTerra's map.
Open South Africa on the StoryTerra map10 famous stories set in South Africa
Live snapshot of the top 10 most popular catalogue items (2026-09-04). Click any card to open this entry on the live map.
Browse 114 books, 213 movies and 4 TV shows set in South Africa.

Chappie
Every child comes into the world full of promise and none more so than Chappie: he is gifted special a prodigy. Like any child Chappie will come under the influence of his surroundings—some good some bad—and he will…

Gandhi
In the early years of the 20th century Mohandas K. Gandhi a British-trained lawyer forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government…

Beast
A recently widowed man and his two teenage daughters travel to a game reserve in South Africa. However their journey of healing soon turns into a fight for survival when a bloodthirsty lion starts to stalk them.

Blended
Recently divorced mom Lauren and widowed dad Jim let their friends push them into a blind date which goes disastrously wrong. Unsurprisingly neither wants to see the other ever again. However fate intervenes when both…

Invictus
Newly elected President Nelson Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport Mandela…

Lethal Weapon 2
In the opening chase Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh stumble across a trunk full of Krugerrands. They follow the trail to a South African diplomat who's using his immunity to conceal a smuggling operation. When he…

My Octopus Teacher
After years of swimming every day in the freezing ocean at the tip of Africa Craig Foster meets an unlikely teacher: a young octopus who displays remarkable curiosity. Visiting her den and tracking her movements for…

Searching for Sugar Man
Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero the mysterious 1970s rock 'n' roller Rodriguez. The film won Best Documentary at the 85th Academy Awards.

Escape from Pretoria
South Africa 1978. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee two white political activists from the African National Congress imprisoned by the apartheid regime put a plan in motion to escape from the infamous Pretoria Prison.

Mia and the White Lion
A young girl from London moves to Africa with her parents where she befriends a lion cub.
The 10 stories above are just a sample of the 331 in the catalogue for this entry. For the full live catalogue, open South Africa in the StoryTerra app. On the live map you can also filter by the exact time the stories take place — any year, decade or century, from BCE to the future.
Keep exploring
Nigeria · Kenya · Egypt · All places