Africa the place to see amazing wildlife, experience diverse cultures and meet ultra-friendly locals. From bustling Cape Town to the emptiness of the Sahara Desert, Africa has enough to keep every type of traveller happy.
Get to know Africa: 20 interesting facts about Africa:
- There are 54 countries in Africa and one “non-self governing territory”, Western Sahara, in Africa.
- The African continent is the world’s oldest populated area.
- Arabic is spoken by 170 million people on the continent, followed in popularity by English (130 million), Swahili (100), French (115), Berber (50), Hausa (50), Portuguese (20) and Spanish (10).
- Over 25% of all languages are spoken only in Africa with over 2,000 recognised languages spoken on the continent.
- All of Africa was colonized by foreign powers during the “scramble for Africa”, except Ethiopia and Liberia.
- Before colonial rule, Africa comprised up to 10,000 different states and autonomous groups with distinct languages and customs.
- Africa is the second most populous continent with about 1.1 billion people.
- Africa is the world’s second-largest continent covering about over 30 million square kilometres.
- The Sahara is the largest desert in the world and is bigger than the continental USA.
- Africa is the world’s second driest continent (after Australia).
- Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and the second-largest freshwater lake in the world.
- Megafauna like giraffe, zebra, gorilla, hippopotamus, chimpanzee and wildebeest are unique to the continent and only found here.
- Lake Malawi has more fish species than any other freshwater system on earth.
- The Nile River is the longest river in the world with a total length of 6,650 kilometres.
- Africa has over 85% of the world’s elephants and over 99% of the remaining lions are on the African continent.
- Eight of Conservation International’s 34 biodiversity hotspots are in Africa.
- The Serengeti (Tanzania) hosts the world’s largest wildlife migration on Earth with over 750,000 zebra marching ahead of 1.2 million wildebeest as they cross this amazing landscape.
- There are over 3,000 protected areas in Africa, including 198 Marine Protected Areas, 50 Biosphere Reserves, 129 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and 80 RAMSAR “Wetlands of International Importance”.
- Africa is home to the world’s largest living land animal, the African elephant, which can weigh up to 7 tons.
- Africa has over 25% of the world’s bird species.
