So you’re stuck in the San Francisco Bay Area during the World Cup, wishing you were in South Africa. Don’t dismay. There are plenty of places to find South Africa in San Francisco, and with all those options for watching the Cup with a crowd, your experience won’t be too far off. (Okay, okay, it will still be nothing like actually being there, but hey, you take what you can get.)

So you’re not in South Africa, you can still see this in SF…

After South Africa’s next match, or any sunny day, on a stroll through San Francisco’s excellent Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Garden, you can wander through South African forest. The arboretum features a trees and shrubs from mediterranean climate regions, areas that have rainy mild winters and dry summers. These areas, which include the coast of California, the Chilean coast, the southwest coast of Australia, and the southwest coast of South Africa, are a tiny fraction of the earth’s land area, but have a much higher relative percentage of plant species.

At home in the mediterranean climate of Northern California

The arboretum is lovely, and a great experience for adults and kids alike, but despite its rolling lawns, no football, soccer, or jabulani-playing of any kind is allowed. For that, you’ll have to find another meadow nearby. Fortunately, that’s easy pickings at the east end of Golden Gate Park.

Don’t you just want to dribble, shoot and score on this lawn?

Now that you’ve gotten a little sun, stretched your legs and smelled the roses, it’s a perfect time to take in some of the finest African art in San Francisco. Only a few minutes away, in the DeYoung Museum, is a world class collection. Why not make it a game to find the South African pieces amidst the massive assemblage in the dimly lit gallery (otherwise it can get a bit overwhelming)? Find this Zulu head rest near the gallery entrance to get started.

Zulu head rest in the De Young…reminds you it’s naptime?

The Bay Area is chock full of things any visitor would love to discover, no matter what international sporting extravaganza is taking place at the time. The De Young Museum and the Strybing Arboretum are just two of them. If you know where you can find some South Africa in the Bay Area, let us know! Comment below!

Tags: “botanical garden”, “De Young Museum”, “South Africa”, “World Cup”, arboretum, art, forest, jabulani, lawn, mediterranean, strybing, truck