The article contributes to the ongoing study of the rich and controversial history of Russian emigration and diaspora in different countries and continents. It is dedicated to several outstanding representatives of Russian creative intelligentsia who, after passing through hardship and suffering emigrated to South Africa, where they got refuge, lived and productively worked during the XX century. Among them are the most famous South African painter Vladimir Tretchikov (Tretchikoff), sculptor Herbert Vladimir Meyerowitz painter, cartoonist, opera singer and one of the prominent coordinators of the Russian community in South Africa Victor Ivanov (Ivanoff), and embryologist, founder of electronic microscopy in Africa, Boris Balinsky.

South African-Russian connections lasted for at least three centuries, but the Russian emigration flow since the end of the XIX century was the biggest and richest with talents reflecting the great and tragic history of the epoch in Russia and the world: wars, revolutions, political persecution. In the past century among them there are famous artists, future Nobel laureates, cinema and opera stars.

Russian artists and scientists played a noticeable part in the cultural and economic development of South Africa, promoting interconnection of cultures and traditions.