It’s fact!
- South Africa has 11 official languages – more than any other country.
- The largest diamond found in Cullinan is part of the Crown jewels.
- There are 9 world heritage sites, of which the Vredefort Dome is the largest and oldest impact crater.
- Dr Chris Barnard successfully performed the world’s first heart transplant in 1967.
- The city of Johannesburg is the site of one of the largest manmade forests, with more than 6 million trees.
- Nandos, Rooibos, Castle Lager, Amarula, Mrs Balls Chutney, Zam-buk and Chappies are South African products.
- The African elephant is the largest mammal in the world and can weigh up to 11 tons and live up to 70 years.
- The Eland is the largest and slowest antelope in the world.
- SA inventions include Kreepy Krauly pool cleaner, the CAT scan, Q20 lubricant, Pratley’s putty, the yellow fever vaccine, molecular biology and hosts the biggest optical telescope SALT.
- The oldest human remains, 160 000 years old, were discovered in The Cradle of Mankind.
- More than 2000 shipwrecks lie in the waters off the treacherous Wild Coast.
- Two Nobel prize winners – Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu – both lived in Vilakazi Street, Soweto.
From snow-capped mountains to forests and bushveld, and from sub-tropical beaches to arid deserts. South Africa is a diverse country and one of Africa’s great wildlife and nature destinations.
This varied ecology and the infamous game and nature reserves are host to: 297 species of mammal have been recorded in South Africa (30 species considered threatened); 858 species of bird (about 30 are endemic); 447 species of reptile; 132 species of amphibians; 23 420 species of vascular plants (making it the sixth most species-rich country in the world, and the most species-rich country on the African continent).
When you stay in the South African bush you will most certainly:
… hear the cackle of hyena, the growl of leopard, the hooting of owls, the honk of hippos, the bark of baboons, or the clicking sound of insects;
… view spectacular sunsets and breathtaking scenery;
… inhale fresh sea air and fragrant aromas of the African bush.
Some of the incredible parks and game reserves:
KwaZulu-Natal – Drakensberg, the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve (the oldest in Africa); the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (a World Heritage Site pic 1).
Free State – Golden Gate Highlands National Park (named after the way the light reflects off its sandstone peaks).
Western Cape – Table Mountain National Park (one of the Seven Wonders of the World); the West Coast and Agulhas National Parks.
Eastern Cape – Garden Route National Park; the Addo Elephant National Park (It protects what remains of the once-huge elephant herds that roamed the area).
Northern Cape – The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (a massive ecosystem and a merger of SA’s Kalahari Gemsbok National Park and Botswana’s Gemsbok National Park); the Augrabies Falls National Park with its thundering waterfalls.
Mpumalanga – The Blyde River Canyon (the third largest canyon in the world and includes the Three Rondavels, Bourke’s Luck Potholes and God’s Window).
North West – Pilanesberg National Park (set on the remnants of an alkaline volcanic crater – one of only three in the world); the Madikwe Game Reserve.
Limpopo – Kruger National Park (world-renowned famous national park, consisting of about two million hectares of wilderness pic 2); Mapungubwe National Park (a Unesco World Heritage Site containing SA’s most significant Iron Age site),
Gauteng – Rietvlei Nature Reserve (provides Pretoria with 15% of its water and can support 2000 head of game); Dinokeng Game Reserve (means place of rivers close to urban Gauteng, with an abundance of indigenous wildlife and a prime bird watching area).
