• South Africa covers 1.23 million square km – an area roughly five times the size of Britain.
• Cape Town has the fifth-best blue sky in the world according to the UK’s National Physical Laboratory.
• Almost 40% of the gold mined on Earth has come from South Africa. Scientists estimate that gold deposits there are 3 billion years old.
• South Africa is a water-starved country and annual rainfall is almost half that of the world average (464 mm compared to 860 mm).
• Mahatma Gandhi is most famous as the non-violent leader of India’s fight for independence, but he first made his reputation as protest leader for the rights of Indians living in South Africa.
• Because it is below the equator, South Africa’s summers begin in September and last until April.

Table Mountain, South Africa

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