15 Reasons to Love South Africa!

Enough of the negativity!  Let me show you why we love our South Africa so!

South Africa is known as the Rainbow Nation. South Africa’s almost 57.5 million population (www.worldometers.info), August 2018 estimate). The “Rainbow Nation” term originated from Archbishop Desmond Tutu  to capture the unity of multi-culturalism and unity of many different nations (Black, White, Indian and Coloureds), in a country previously identified by apartheid’s divisive ruling of white over black after South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994.

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There are 11 official languages, each with equal status, isiZulu, English (the most commonly spoken), Afrikaans, isiXhosa, Sesotho, Xitsongs, Sepedi, isiNdebele, Setswana and Tshivenda.  There are other non-official languages, like the Hindi spoken in my home.

South Africa’s Cape Town has the longest  (850km) meandering wine route through Cape Winelands.  The rich, fertile soil and picturesque  landscape is home to some of the oldest and most prestigious wine farms dating back to the 1650s.

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The Bloukrans Bridge, Western Cape, is the highest commercial natural bungee jump in the world. Africa’s highest bridge has a 216m jump pace off the Bloukrans Bridge over the Bloukrans river valley. 451m in length, it serves as a national road bridge (N2). The Bungee operations run by Face Adrenalin begins under the road deck of the bridge.

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Table Mountain, is an most iconic landmarks in South Africa’s Cape Town. One of the oldest mountains in the world, it is a tourist attraction which forms part of the Table Mountain National Park. Flanked by Devil’s Peak and Lion’s Head, it houses a large array of fauna and flora, most of which is endemic.

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South Africa has the world’s largest visible crater.  Some 2,030 million years ago a meteor the size of a mountain (about 10km across) fell to earth in South Africa’s Free State.  Apparently made by a comet or meteorite, it is the reported as the world’s oldest crater., estimated to be  about 4 million years.

Home of the authentic South African braai otherwise known as a barbeque. South African households holds braais as social and celebratory occasions. Meat, sausages, chickens and other specialities are thrown on a grill with a fire of charcoals or wood until the meat is tender and edible.  Accompanying that, the obligatory beers and beverages are served. Such is the emphasis, that we have added to our calendar, a dedicated braai day, September 24th, our official Heritage Day, known colloquially as Braai Day.

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South African’s fish sardine run can be seen from space. Annually, between May and July, millions of small silver fish travel in vast shoals from the cold waters off South Africa’s Cape Point up to the beaches of KwaZulu-Natal. Accompanying them are the birds and other sea creatures all eager to feast.  The anglers  anticipate this phenomena, catch and sell to the locals. Some people identify and determine the scale of South Africa’s winter with the arrival of this much anticipated event.

South Africa has bones that  support the belief that modern humans originated in Africa. Johannesburg’s Sterkfontein Caves, commonly known as the “Cradle of Mankind” has fossilised bones from hominids.  Evidence was found identifying the stone tools used to make fires about two million years ago.

Our treacherous coasts has around 3,000 shipwrecks which are protected under South African law. The Cape of Good Hope also known as the Cape of Storms has been famous for more than 500 years as the ‘graveyard of ships’.  Ships that were wrecked came from as many as 37 nations,  their sites are invaluable heritage and historical assets, which is why it is illegal to remove any part of them or object associated with them.

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South Africa is a world leader in gay rights. We were the first African country and the fifth country in the world to recognise same sex marriage. Discrimination of sexual orientation was outlawed in 1996. Since then, same sex couples are able to marry and  adopt children, even use a surrogate.

South Africa is sports mad.  We have proudly hosted the football (2010 remember the vuvuzelas?!), cricket (2003) and rugby (1995) world cups. Other than England, our country is the only country to have done so.

We specialise in beer! The world’s second largest brewing company is in South Africa. SABMiller was founded as South African Breweries in 1895. (Anheuser-Busch InBev, abbreviated as AB InBev, is the world’s leading brewer.)

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South Africa made medical history with the first successful heart transplant.  The limelight focussed on Cape Town’s Groote Schuur Hospital when Dr  Christiaan Barnard performed the first human  to human heart transplant on the 3rd  December 1967.  Dr  Barnard transplanted the heart of Denise Darvall, who passed from  a head injury, into the chest of Louis Washkansky.

South Africa is famous for the Big Five Animals (lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and cape buffalo).  We also have the largest bird (ostrich), the tallest animal (giraffe), the largest fish (whale shark), the largest reptile (leatherback turtle), the fastest land mammal (cheetah) and the largest antelope (eland).

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Thefamouspeople.com had this to say about South Africans :

Resilient, gritty, and hardworking are some of the words that describe the people of South Africa. For a country that has been plagued by political turmoil and unrest for the major part of the 20th century, her inhabitants have always managed to bounce back with even higher determination than before.

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Some famous people :

Elon Musk
(Entrepreneur, Engineer, Inventor) 28 June 1971

Charlize Theron . 7 August 1975

Nelson Mandela (Anti-Apartheid Activist, President of ANC and Former President of South Africa) 18 July 1918

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
Politician, Anti-Apartheid Activist) 26 September 1936

 

Trevor Noah  (Actor, Comedian,TV host) 20 February 1984

John Kani
(Actor, Playwright, Director) 30 August 1942

Cyril Ramaphosa
President of South Africa) 17 November 1952

Gary Player
(South African golfer) 01 November 1935

Desmond Tutu
(Anti-Apartheid Activist) 07 October 1931

Steve Biko
(Anti-apartheid Activist) 18 December 1946

Ernie Els
Professional Golfer) 17 October 1969

|Alice Krige
(Actress) 28 June 1954

Christiaan Barnard
(Cardiac Surgeon) 08 November 1922

Nadine Gordimer (Writer, Political Activist)