What are some interesting facts about South Africa?

Question

Here are some to get you going:
1. The African Elephant is the largest land mammal.
2. More than 50% of the Paragliding world records have been set in South Africa.
3. The largest baked pizza on record was made in Norwood, South Africa according to the 1995 Guiness Book of World Records.

Please don't list a lot of facts. Choose your favorite and submit that. Best answer will go to the one fact that most of us haven't heard of!

To poepies: Are you kidding me? You need to show some facts, because I think you may be the winner here!

To poepies: Sorry, but I just found this info on shopping trolleys http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Trolley Seems like the Australians beat us to it!

To Vango: Sorry, dude! Wrong on all three.
South Africa wasn't the first to use electric street lamps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_light And South Africa didn't rent any Marion Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Island And lastly, the Carlton is not on the list http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001338.html

To Sunflower Girl: Sorry, but I already got a best answer off that very same point. Check it out http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkPSQVcb9PyCe6U0BZvNOS_sy6IX?qid=20060920052035AAzTbXd

Answer 1

The top 3 designer/engineers in motorsport are from SA!

Ferarri's (F1) head designer
Maclaren's (F1) head designer
Ducatti's head designer

Answer 2

SA was the first country to use electric street lamps - in Kimberley.

South Africa used to rent Marion Island from England for one peppercorn per year. Don't know if it's still the case, though (with inflation and all...).

The Carlton building in Joburg still counts among the world's 100 tallest buildings.

On the African elephant: It's shoulder height is more than the extinct woolly mammoth, but the latter was twice as heavy.

Thanks for the feedback, Porgie.
You're right, Kimberley was the first in Africa to use electric street lamps and the big claim to fame is that it was before London had them. http://mp2mas26.eskom.co.za/heritage/electricity_in_south_africa.htm
My source on the buildings is a book published 3 years ago. Seems like especially the Chinese have built lots of tall buildings since.
My Marion Island source was one of the SA expedition members to the island. I assumed him to be an authoritive source and never double checked.
Sorry.

Answer 3

they have many valid languages, English, Afrikaans, Zulu, and so on. There are something like 14 languages. that's the most wealthy of the fifty 3 African countries. It holds a huge deposit of diamonds and gold. It became found by the Dutch contained in the 1600s i believe even as on course to India. The English then bumped off the Dutch contained in the Boer Wars to capitalize on the land, gold, diamonds, and cheap exertions. Apartheid began in 1948 i believe and Ended even as Nelson Mandela became elected into workplace in 1992 or so. All their Presidents were Black in view that Mandela. it really is between the purely international places to have an monetary surplus those days. Aids is operating rampant throughout the time of South Africa, and the unemployment and poverty element is close if no better than 25 %. the present gadget of democracy in South Africa is taken under consideration between the perfect contained in the international. it really is one vote in line with human being. end of tale. Whoever receives the most votes wins. No ifs ands or buts about it. because the right of apartheid, poverty has surely better.

Answer 4

South Africa has the world's 22nd-largest economy by gross domestic product.
It's the world's 32nd-largest country by land area, and 28th-largest by population.
South Africa completely surrounds the country of Lesotho and almost completely surrounds Swaziland. By area, the country is one-eighth the size of the United States, just over a third the size of the European Union, twice as big as France and nearly four times the size of Germany.
South Africa has the world's 32nd-largest labour force. It's the 17th-largest global producer of electricity, has the 15th-longest network of railway tracks in the world, and the 17th-longest length of roadways.
Durban is the largest port in Africa and the ninth largest in the world.

Answer 5

1. Johannesburg, with its 3.3 million people, boasts the largest man-made and urban forest in the world. Johannesburg has more than 10 million trees.

2. The Mercedes-Benz C-class, the BMW 3-series and VW Golf and Jetta vehicles, for all right-hand drive markets, are produced in SA.

Answer 6

1) South Africa has the largest, longest surviving bottlenose dolphin in captivity - Gambit, who lives at the Durban aquarium (now uShaka)

2) South Africa is the country with the highest probability of being shot dead whilst in a shopping mall.

Answer 7

Did you know that South Africa was the first country with shopping trolleys?

***Edit***

Hell, I'll try to find it, but it is a trivial pursuit question. I'll quickly search for it!

Answer 8

highest bungi in world is in sa - Blaauwkrantz near PE in Eastern Cape.

Inventor of Creepy Crawley is South African

Answer 9

OK MR I know everything! Did you know that Pratley Putty made by a South African was used in space?

Answer 10

Suid afrika is opgemoer deur die swart mense