SOUTH AFRICA
Reflecting the country's diversity, South Africa has 11 official languages: isiZulu, isiXhosa, English, Afrikaans, Sepedi, Setswana, Sesotho, Xitsonga, siSwati, Tshivenda and isiNdebele.
South Africa has three capital cities: Cape Town (Legislative), Pretoria (Administrative) and Bloemfontein (Judicial).
It is the country of birth and residence of Nelson Mandela, the father figure of the new South Africa.
The Cape Floral Kingdom is one of the world’s six floral kingdoms – and the only one which is wholly contained within a single country.
Table Mountain in Cape Town is believed to be one of the oldest mountains in the world and one of the planet’s 12 main energy centres, radiating magnetic, electric or spiritual energy.
Rooibos tea is exclusive to South Africa - naturally caffeine-free and is only found in the Cederberg, Western Cape.
The Route 62 in the Western Cape is the longest wine route in the world.
All of the Big Five animals can be found in the national parks of South Africa. The Big Five are lion, leopard, elephant, Cape buffalo, and rhinoceros.
South Africa is home to the world’s: largest bird (ostrich), largest land mammal (bull elephant), smallest mammal (dwarf shrew), largest reptile (leatherback sea turtle), largest earthworm (African Giant Earthworm), fastest animal (cheetah), tallest animal (giraffe) and largest fish (whale shark).
South Africa is now the only country in the world to have hosted the Soccer, Cricket and Rugby World Cup!
The first heart transplant in the world took place in 1967. It was performed by Dr Christiaan Barnard at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.
It’s the only country to voluntarily abandon its nuclear weapons program.
South Africa is part of BRICS, an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
One of the most luxurious trains in the world is in South Africa, it is called the Rovos Rail.
BOTSWANA
Botswana is a landlocked country that borders with South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia.
Water is so valued in Botswana that their currency is called the ‘pula’, which means ‘rain’ or ‘blessing’ in Setswana, the national language.
Nearly 40% of Botswana is made up of national parks and wildlife reserves, which results in large areas for animals to roam.
Botswana is famously known as being one of the four African countries which meet at the eastern end of the Caprivi Strip in Namibia. This is the only place in the world where four countries meet, namely Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Botswana is home to the world’s largest concentration of African elephants, with most of them found in the Chobe National Park.
Botswana holds a number of world records including the world’s largest salt pans, the world’s largest inland delta and the world’s shortest border; the border between Botswana and Zambia spans just 150 metres.
The Okavango Delta is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is best described as a vast inland river delta in northern Botswana and known for its sprawling grassy plains.
Botswana is approximately the size of France, but has only 2 million people living in the country, compared to France’s 65 million.
NAMIBIA
Namibia is the second least densely populated country in the world. It has a population of 2.6 million living in an area of 825,615 km², with just 3.2 inhabitants per km². Only Mongolia is more sparsely populated.
Fish River Canyon in Namibia is the largest canyon in Africa. At 160 km long, up to 27 km wide and 550 m deep, it is also the second largest in the world, after the Grand Canyon in the US.
The country gets its name from the Namib Desert – one of the world's oldest deserts. Having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for roughly 55 – 80 million years, the Namib may be the oldest desert in the world and contains some of the world's driest regions, with only western South America's Atacama Desert to challenge it for age and aridity.
Namibia has some of the highest sand dunes in the world. Due to their naturally shifting patterns, dune measurement is notoriously inaccurate.
Namibia’s modern international boundaries were established when Germany annexed the territory as South West Africa in 1890. South Africa took control over the territory in 1915 during the First World War. Namibia finally became fully independent in 1990 after 25 years of armed struggle.
Namibia has Africa’s largest free-roaming population of black rhinos, as well as the largest cheetah population in the world.
Nearly 20% of the country is covered by national parks, such as Etosha. When communal and freehold conservancies are included, 46.8% of Namibia is presently under some form of formal conservation management.
Namibia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, Twyfelfontein, has the largest known concentration of engravings in Africa. Over 5,000 individual figures between 2,000 and 6,000 years old have been recorded here.
ZIMBABWE
Zimbabwe is a landlocked plateau country.
The official name of Zimbabwe is Republic of Zimbabwe. The country was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia. That name was derived from Cecil John Rhodes, whose company administered the area during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The name Zimbabwe has been derived from "Dzimba dza mabwe", which means "great houses of stone" in the Shona language. The name is based on the stone structures of Great Zimbabwe or Dzimbahwe, which became a World Heritage site in 1986. Great Zimbabwe is an ancient city that hosts the largest stone structures south of the pyramids. Built entirely of stone, the ruins span more than 7 km². It is estimated that the city housed as many as 18,000 inhabitants.
The first people of the country were the Bantu-speaking Iron Age farmers that settled in the region around AD 300.
Zimbabwe has one of the largest waterfalls in the world, Victoria Falls, located on the Zambezi River. It is considered to be the world's largest waterfall due to its width of 1,708 metres and the height of 108 m. The noise of the Victoria Falls can be heard as far as 40 kilometres away.
Lake Kariba is the world’s largest man-made lake and reservoir by volume. It lies 1,300 kilometres (810 miles) upstream from the Indian Ocean, along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In 2008, Zimbabwe experienced a whopping 231 million percent inflation.
ZAMBIA
Zambia is a landlocked country in southern Africa. Until 1964, when the country gained independence, Zambia was known as Northern Rhodesia.
The country’s name Zambia was taken from the name of the Zambezi River.
Zambia boasts the largest waterfall in the world (or more specifically, the largest single sheet of falling water) Victoria Falls. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park is an UNESCO World Heritage site that is home to one half of the Mosi-oa-Tunya — ‘The Smoke Which Thunders’ — known worldwide as Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River. The river forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, so the falls are shared by the two countries, and the park is ‘twin’ to the Victoria Falls National Park on the Zimbabwean side. The park covers 66 km² (25 square miles).
Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park provides a home for numerous antelope species, zebra, giraffe, rhino, lion, warthog, and a variety of birds and smaller animals. Elephants cross the Zambezi and freely walk through the Park and the surrounding area.
Zambia declared its independence on the day of the closing ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics, thereby becoming the first country ever to have entered an Olympic games as one country, and left it as another.
There’s a bunch of adventure activities you can do in Zambia, such as white water rafting down the Zambezi, canoe through national parks for a closer look at the wildlife, take a chopper flight over Victoria Falls or swing off one of the massive gorges.
ESWATINI (former SWAZILAND)
Eswatini is Africa’s last absolute monarchy and one of the few remaining in the world. This form of government gives the head of state supreme authority that supersedes all written laws, legislature or customs. The present ruler is King Mswati III.
His predecessor, King Sobhuza II, who reigned from 1899 to 1982 and spent 82 years and 253 days on the throne, is the longest reigning monarch in world history.
In 2018, King Mswati III renamed the country from Swaziland to ‘the Kingdom of Eswatini’ during celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Swazi independence from British rule.
The Umhlanga – or reed dance – festival is held annually in Eswatini. The festival involves tens of thousands of young girls from across the country dressed up in brightly coloured attire – making it one of the biggest cultural events in Africa. In recent years, it has drawn criticism for its treatment of women and is beginning to focus more on preserving cultural heritage.
The Makhonjwa Mountains, located in South Africa and Eswatini, are formed of rocks dating as far back as 3.6 billion years. They are thought to be one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world.
Eswatini has two capital cities. Mbabane is the administrative capital while Lobamba is the national capital, the seat of King Mswati III and where the houses of parliament and other national institutions are situated.