Interesting things about Africa

South Africa has 12 official languages, from A-Z: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi,sign language, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu.

Blyde River Canyon is the third largest canyon in the world (and the largest ‘green canyon’). The Grand Canyon in the US is the biggest, and second place goes to the Fish River Canyon in Namibia.

Like Brazil, Peru,and Australia, the Democratic´s Republic of Congo has one of the richest ecosystems in the world.

The largest known butterfly is Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing from New Guinea which has a wingspan of approximately 280 mm; the smallest butterfly, the Dwarf Blue from Africa has a wingspan of only 13 mm.

The world's largest desert, the Sahara, is in Africa. It is so huge that it is larger than the continental U.S.

On some continents several different languages are spoken. In Africa over 2,000 languages are spoken. Language varieties are still being used although some of these are threatened by extinction.

The only country in the world that speaks just one language is Somalia, located in Africa. All the residents speak Somali.

Individual languages such as Arabic, Igbo, Swahili, Hausa, Amharic, and Yoruba are spoken by tens of millions of people. In addition, Africa has a wide variety of sign languages, many of which are language isolates. Several African languages are whistled to communicate over long distances.

Africa is one of the most unique and interesting countries in the world since it has now been proven that human origin began there, about 5 million years ago. The oldest humanoid bones ever found were found in Africa.

The Cradle of Humankind is a World Heritage Site first named by UNESCO(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 1999, about 50 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Gauteng province.

Here you can see the 2.3-million year-old fossil Australopithecus africanus (nicknamed "Mrs. Ples") that was found in 1947 by Dr Robert Broom and John Robinson, as well as the Wonder Cave.

Oprah Winfrey has founded a new all-girl leadership academy in South Africa. Oprah said that this was the fulfillment of a promise that she made to Nelson Mandela and that accomplishing this is what she feels she was put on earth to do. Fulfilling this project has cost $40 million so far.

On March 6th, 1957, the Gold Coast became Ghana and the first sub-Saharan country to gain independence from colonial rule. It inspired a wave of liberation struggles around Africa and the world. Just three years later, 17 more colonies had gained their independence. 2007, marks 50 years of independence. Ghana's first president -- Kwame Nkrumah -- gained international stature, emerging as one of the leaders of the worldwide anti-colonial movement and one of the most influential Pan-Africanists of the 20th century.

For the first time in history that the world’s premier sporting event will be held on African soil. In 2010 South Africa will host the FIFA Football Cup.