20 Things You Never Knew About South Africa

• By: Editor
• On: 06/Mar/2009
• In: South Africa Travel Tips

20 Things You Never Knew About South Africa
1. South Africa is home to some of the oldest rocks in the world! The rocks around Barberton in Mpumalanga have been dated to over 3 billion years old, which is pretty old considering the Earth is just 4.5 billion years old.

2. South Africa is also home to the worlds largest confirmed meteorite impact crater. Some 2 billion years ago, an alien rock came crashing to the ground and rendered a huge mark on the Earth. You can find this meteorite scar, Vredefort Dome, close to the Vaal River near Parys.

3. The second Highest Waterfall in the world is located in South Africa. The Tugela Falls is found in the Drakensberg Mountains in the Royal Natal National Park in KwaZulu-Natal Province. The waterfall has a total drop of about 950 metres, not much shorter than the Angels Falls in Venezuela, but much easier to access as you have to fly in to see Angel Fall and you can drive to an observation point for Tugela Falls.

4. South Africa has the third largest canyon in the world - and the largest green one. Blyde River Canyon, in Mpumalanga, is just a little smaller than the Grand Canyon (in America) and the Fish River Canyon (in Namibia), but unlike those two Blyde River Canyon is home to a lot of lush vegetation.

5. South Africa is reputed to have the third highest level of biodiversity in the world including 18000 indigenous vascular plant species, of which 80% are uniquely South African!

6. Most of the world's proto-mammalian fossils are found in the Karoo. The Therapsids were some of our earliest mammalian ancestors and there is a lot of evidence of their presence that dates back some 200 million years. There is also a 280 million year old fossilized shark!

7. Sutherland in the Northern Cape is one of the most geologically stable places on Earth. And yet strangely it is located very close to a 66-million year old volcano which isn’t fully extinct. The area also enjoys some of the clearest and darkest night skies in the world, which make it prefer for stargazers so it is home to the South African Astronomical Observatory.

8. Jagersfontein Mine is the biggest man-made hole in the world. It was hand dug, produced 1900kgs of diamonds including one of the biggest diamonds ever discovered (The Excelsior Diamond which weighed in at a hefty 194.2g). The Big Hole in Kimberley is just slightly smaller than Jagersfontein. By 1914 it had excavated almost 3 metric tonnes of Diamonds!

9. The township of Soweto, close to Jo’Burg, has the unique honour of having been home to two Noble Peace Prize winners, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.  They both had houses on Vilakazi Street.

10. If you ever visit Animal Kingdom Lodge in the United States, you will be surprised to learn that all the wine served there is South Africa in origin.

11. The R62 wine route in South Africa is one of the longest wine route in the world. The route passes through Wellington, Tulbagh, Worcester, Robertson and the Klein Karoo, which makes it about 850 km.

12. South Africa used to be the world's largest producer of macadamia nuts, though Australia now holds that record.

13. South Africa also has the highest consumption of kingklip (aka Cusk-Eel) in the world. The kingklip is a species of eel that are a deep water fish that can grow to about 180cms long. When you visit be sure to give a taste as it can be quite delicious if you like seafood.

14. In 1967, Dr Chris Barnard performed the worlds first successful heart transplant. It took a team of 30 people 9 hours to perform the surgery. He also did the first Kidney transplant, though that occurred in America.

15. South Africa's Dr Selig Percy Amoils invented the Cryoprobe, which refined the cryoextraction method of cataract surgery.

16. The Quagga, a type of Zebra that only has stripes around its neck, was hunted to extinction in the 19th century. However, today they have been reintroduced through the use of a careful breeding program using Burchell's zebra which has almost identical DNA.

17. South Africa, along with Zimbabwe and Mozambique, have been taking down the fences between their adjacent game parks to make one large 35 000km², which will form the largest conservation area in the world!

18. Unlike much of the rest of the continent, South Africa has some of the finest water quality in the world! There has been ambitious and progressive water legislation brought in that has given over 4 million extra poor people in South Africa access to clean water.

19. It addition to its tap water quality, South Africa has been working hard on improving the quality of its coastal areas. They have done such a good job they have become the first country outside of Europe to gain Blue Flag status.

20. South Africa is the world leader when it comes to producing the first and most viable oil-from-coal refinery. This petrol and diesel is produced by Sasol and it accounts for about 40% of the petrol used in the country.

South Africa is a large country and you will definitely require a car to see the best of it including exploring some of the more interesting facts discovered here. If you want to get a rental car you can see all our options on our car hire South Africa page.

So if you have any questions why not leave your message in the comment box below.