Wednesday, August 7, 2013

you learn something new every day...

Hello! Many of you probably have not seen a map of South Africa that shows the provinces, oceans and neighboring countries. So, I thought I'd share one :-)

Note: Please excuse the spacing issues in this post...I  cannot figure out how to correct it! haha

{source for map}

Here is some other stuff you may not know:

  • South Africa has 9 provinces. We live in Mpumalanga (located in the upper right corner of the map above, in yellow)
  • The country's official name is Republic of South Africa
  • Home to the hardest golf shot in the world, located at Legends Golf & Safari Resort. You tee off from a 430m mountain and it takes the ball 30 seconds to reach the ground

{image source}

  • The oldest human fossil was found here (Cradle of Humankind)

{image source}

  • Table Mountain in Cape Town is believed to oldest in the world

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  • There are more than 2,000 shipwrecks off the ZA coast, some dating back 500 years

{image source}

  • ZA is the 2nd largest fruit exporter in the world
  • The world's first heart transplant was done in ZA in 1967
  • South Africa has native penguins on the coast

{image source}

  • World's largest producer of macadamia nuts
  • The Cullinan diamond, the world's largest diamond, was found in ZA in 1905. It is now part of British crown jewels

{image source}

  • Home to the deepest gold mine in the world, coming in at 11,749 feet deep
  • Blue Crane is the national bird 


  • Protea is the national flower


  • This is the national flag


Hope you enjoyed learning a little about ZA!

Love,
Jess & Mat

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very cool glad you guys are learning all about Africa.i can see a book in your future about the history and your adventures there! Oso nice.

Anonymous said...

Very cool glad you guys are learning all about Africa.i can see a book in your future about the history and your adventures there! Oso nice.

Amazingg9 said...

Wowzer! Looking forward to some learning my ownself ... Soon!