Facts About Africa

There are more than 50 independent countries in Africa and on the islands off its coasts. Together, they make up more than one third of the membership of the United Nations. Africa is a continent of unique and varied contrasts - with great differences in experience between Southern Africa and East Africa.

The continent of Africa lies astride the equator, extending beyond 35 N. latitude and reaching almost 35 S., or about as far north as Washington, D.C., and about as far south as Uruguay. It is the second largest landmass in the world, after Eurasia, and its area is more than three times that of the United States. Its population in 1990 was estimated at 648 million, increasing at a rate of 3 percent a year. The average population density is only 55.5 per square mile (21.4 per square kilometer), but this is misleading because much of the land is almost uninhabitable desert or rain forest. Roughly one third of Africa's total land area is devoted to agriculture, but in nearly half the countries less than 6 percent of the land is cultivated.

Geologically, Africa is the oldest of the continents. It formed the core of the ancient landmass of Gondwanaland, from which the Southern Hemisphere continents are said to have drifted. Because of its age, Africa has undergone erosion for hundreds of millions of years.

• Sahara Desert: Seen from space, the African continent stares out like a vast and dusty eye amid a calm sea of blue and green. She looms large, daring all who see her to comprehend her mysteries. Even as we have ventured into the cosmos, we have only just begun to understand the strange and ancient realm of…the Sahara.
  
  The boundaries of the Sahara are the Atlantic Ocean on the west, the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea on the north, the Red Sea and Egypt on the east, and the Sudan and the valley of the Niger River on the south. Sahara is divided into western Sahara, the central Ahaggar Mountains, the Tibesti massif (a region of desert mountains and high plateaus), and the Libyan desert (the most arid region).
  
  A true desert, the Sahara averages less than five inches of rain each year. Temperatures there can run to the extreme, ranging between freezing at night to more than 130 degrees Fahrenheit at the peak of day.
  
  The term mirage comes from the Latin word mirare, meaning "to look at." Men travelling through the desert often think they see a cool lake or pool of water in the distance, only to eventually find the same wastes of sand through which they have been traversing. The mirage's image is caused by the reflection of light from the dense waves of heat that hover above the desert floor. Mirages can also be seen on highways or at sea, and can seem quite realistic.
  
  
• Sudwala Caves: Sudwala Caves, which are said to be about 2 000 million years old, are one of the major attractions in the Crocodile River Valley. The caves contain not only stalagmites and stalagtites, but also the fossilised remains of "collenia" a form of algae that it is believed life on earth evolved from.
• Bourke's Luck Potholes: The Potholes are situated on the escarpment, marking the beginning of the Blyde River Canyon. Over thousands of years, deep cylindrical holes have formed by the action of the waterborne sand and rock carried down by the rivers when in flood.

  The Berlin Falls:

  Close to God's Window, north of Graskop, are the mighty Berlin Falls. This national monument is 45m high and came into being when, over many aeons, the softer rock was gradually worn away by the relentless flow of the river. A special observation platform has been built to view this natural wonder, one of the most spectacular along the Panorama Route. The falls can be reached by means of a trail along the river where the water from the Berlin Creek falls over 150 m into a large pool.

• South Africa: South Africa is an exhilarating, spectacular and complex country. With its post-apartheid identity still in the process of definition, there is undoubtedly an abundance of energy and sense of progress about the place. Travellers too are returning to a remarkable land that has been off the trail for way too long.

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