At the southernmost tip of the African continent lies a country that offers visitors endless opportunities for adventure, relaxation and cultural sharing. It is such a scenically diverse country, ringed by beautiful beaches and the blue green waters of two oceans meeting. Our people are friendly and fascinating, our flora and fauna unique, our cuisine exquisite, our forest emerald green and our
mountain ranges breathtaking.
- One lake
The Fundudzi Lake (also called the Holy Lake Fundudzi), in the Limpopo.
- Two oceans forming the western and eastern borders of the country:
The Atlantic Ocean lies west and the Indian Ocean east of South Africa.
- Three capital cities:
- Pretoria is the administrative capital city.
- Cape Town is the legislative capital city and the seat of parliament;
- Bloemfontein is the judicial city, where the court of appeal is housed;
- Interesting facts about animals
- The big 5:
- Buffalo
- Elephant
- Leopard
- Lion
- Rhino
- The small 5:
- Red Billed Buffalo Weaver
- Elephant Shrew
- Leopard Tortoise
- Ant Lion
- Rhino Beatle
- The ugly 5
- Hyena
- Marabou Stork
- Vulture
- Wildebeest
- Warthog
- Animal records:
- Biggest land mammal: the African elephant;
- Tallest animal: the giraffe;
- Fastest mammal: the cheetah;
- Biggest sea reptile: the Leather backed turtle;
- Biggest antelope: the eland;
- Biggest bird: the ostrich;
- Heaviest flying bird: the Cori Bastard;
- Biggest fish: the whale shark.
- Seventeen National Parks, geographically distributed:
- Addo Elephant - established in 1931;
- Augrabies - established in 1999;
- Bergsebra - established in 1937;
- Bontebok - established in 1931;
- Golden Gate Highland - established in 1963;
- Cape Peninsula - established in 1998;
- Kalahari Trans Frontier Park - established in 1931;
- Karoo - established in 1979;
- Knysna Lake district - established in 1985;
- Marakele - established in 1993;
- Kruger National Park - established in 1926;
- Richtersveld - established in 1991;
- Tankwa Karoo - established in 1986;
- Tsitsikamma - established in 1964;
- Mapungubwe National Park - established in 1998;
- West coast - established in 1985;
- Wilderness - established in 1985.
- Coast line:
The coastline is 2 945 kilometres long. There are only 37 other countries in the world with a longer coastline.
- Surface:
The total surface is 1 219 090 km2 . There are only 23 other countries in the world, bigger than South Africa, of which eight are in Africa.
- Types of plants:
23 200 species of which 19 000 are indigenous only to South Africa. The Cape floral kingdom has 8 500 species, of which 6 000 cannot be found anywhere else.
- Rainfall:
An average rainfall figure per year of 464 mm – which is just more than half of the world averages.
- Type of birds:
More than 900 bird types. This means that 10% of the world' bird species are found in South Africa. One hundred snake and 5 000 spider species are found in our country.
- Sunshine:
A lot of sunshine is experienced. The average sunshine hours is between 7,5 and 9,5 hours per day, in comparison with New Yorks' 6,9 hours and Londens' 3,8 hours.
- Biggest producer:
South Africa is the worlds' biggest producer of gold, platinum, chrome, vanadium and manganese.
- Eleven official languages:
- Afrikaans;
- English;
- Ndebele;
- Xhosa;
- Zoeloe;
- Pedi (North-Sotho);
- Sotho (South-Sotho);
- Tswana;
- Swati (Swazi);
- Venda;
- Tsonga.
- Nine provinces:
- The South African flag.
The colours of the flag represent a combination of the colours usualy associated with the South-Africa before 1994 (red, white and blue) and the colours usualy associated with the ANC (yellow, black and green). The design symbolizes the goal of unifying all the different elements in the country to one unity. Flag description: two equal width horizontal bands of red (top) and blue separated by a central green band which splits into a horizontal Y, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side; the Y embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow bands; the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes.
The National Anthem of South-Africa.
Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,
Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.
Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho,
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
Setjhaba sa South Afrika – South Afrika.
Uit die blou van onse hemel,
Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,
Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.
Click here for mp3 choir.
It pulls together two anthems, five languages – and over 49-million people.
The population of South Africa:
According to the annual mid-year estimates from Statistics South Africa, in July 2011 the country's population was 50 586 757, of which 26 071 721 (52%) were
female and 24 515 036 (48%) were male. (Read more: http://www.southafrica.info/about/people/population.htm#ixzz1eYzMtWUZ
South Africa is five times the size of Japan and three times the size of Texas.
South Africa has the only street in the world to house two Nobel Peace Prize winners.
Vilakazi Street in Soweto has houses owned by Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
South Africa is rated third in the world in supplying safe, drinkable tap water.
Gauteng has the most developed infrastructure in Africa.
South Africa is the second largest exporter of fruit in the world.
SA has the longest wine route in the world.
The Kruger National Park has the greatest variety of wildlife species on the African continent.
SA is ranked first in the world for its floral kingdom.
South Africa is the top ranked gold producing country and has 80% of the world's platinum reserves.
South Africa was the world's best performing international tourist destination in 2002.
The Table Mountain in Cape Town was voted one of the seven nature wonders of the world in 2011.
|
