20 Things I Didn’t Know About South Africa
American blogger Jayne Zakheim recently visited South Africa and came away with a couple of facts South Africans may or may not know. For anyone wanting to brush up on their local general knowledge, here goes: 1. Four of the five fastest land animals in the world live in South Africa: the cheetah, the springbok, the wildebeest […]
American blogger Jayne Zakheim recently visited South Africa and came away with a couple of facts South Africans may or may not know. For anyone wanting to brush up on their local general knowledge, here goes:
1. Four of the five fastest land animals in the world live in South Africa: the cheetah, the springbok, the wildebeest and the lion.
2. South Africa is the second largest exporter of fruit in the world.
3. South Africa has the longest wine route in the world.
4. South Africa is the only country in the world to voluntarily abandon its nuclear weapons program.
5. Peppermint Crisp is something every South African grew up with.
6. South Africa is home to the highest commercial bungy jump in the world, called Bloukrans Bridge Bungy (216 metres).
7. OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg is the busiest in Africa, processing about nine million passengers a year.
8. South Africa is the only country in the world to have hosted the soccer, cricket and rugby World Cup!
9. The oldest remains of modern humans were found in South Africa and are well over 160,000 years old.
10. South Africa has a penguin colony, which can be found on Cape Town’s False Bay.
11. Rooibos tea has become a worldwide favorite for its fresh taste and excellent health properties. It is only grown in a small region (in the Cederberg) of South Africa and has to be exported in massive quantities from here.
12. South Africa is the only country with two Nobel Peace Prize winners who lived on the same street. Both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu had houses on Vilakazi Street in Soweto.
13. The deepest mine in the world is a gold mine in South Africa. In 1977 the Western Deep reached a depth of 11,749 feet or 3.9 kilometres. Most mines go to about 3,300 feet.
14. Christiaan Barnard, at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, performed the first human heart transplant in the world in 1967. He was also the first to do a “piggyback” transplant in 1971, and he was the first to do a heart-lung transplant.
15. South Africa is the largest producer of meat in Africa.
16. There are about 280,000 windmills on farms across South Africa, second in number only to Australia.
17. There are more than 2,000 shipwrecks along the coast of South Africa, some dating back five hundred years.
18. South Africa has 19,004 miles of railway track – 80 percent of Africa’s rail infrastructure.
19. The world’s largest diamond was the Cullinan Diamond, found in South Africa in 1905. It weighed 3,106.75 carats uncut. It was cut into the Great Star of Africa, weighing 530.2 carats, the Lesser Star of Africa, which weighs 317.40 carats, and 104 other diamonds of nearly flawless color and clarity. They now form part of the British crown jewels.
20. A South African sunset goes on forever.
Jayne Zakheim’s post first appeared on her blog Travel Well, Fly Safe, which you can view here.