'Terrain morphology' is a term that describes land forms such as plains, hills, mountains, lowlands and escarpments.

The Great Escarpment is the dominant feature in the regional landscape. Its main feature is the Drakensberg and extends from the mountainous regions of the Northern Province southwards past Lesotho and the Eastern Cape into the Southern Cape. It then continues north to the Cape Folded Mountains to Sutherland in the Karoo, before turning northwards to Springbok in the Northern Cape. It is a large escarpment formed through the upliftment of the centre of the continent and the erosion of the coastal areas, dividing South Africa into two distinct shapes or basins. The escarpment is the last remnant of a large interior plateau, which existed many millions of years ago, and which today is only a narrow, planed surface, functioning as a watershed between the Orange River system and all the other rivers.

The escarpment is made up of many different geological rock types. In the west, it consists of granites such as those found near Springbok in the Northern Cape. In the south from Nieuwoudtville eastwards its main constituent is dolerite, and as it extends north to the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg the escarpment consists of Karoo basalts. From the Oliviershoek Pass the escarpment changes to Karoo sandstone in Kwazulu-Natal, to granites in Swaziland, and finally to quarzites along the Mpumalanga and Northern Province Drakensberg. The escarpment and associated mountains are land forms of great importance in the generation of rainfall and runoff. All major rivers have their origins there. Other examples of mountain landscapes are regions such as the Waterberg, Magaliesberg and the Lebombo Mountains.