Showing posts with label South Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Africa. Show all posts

Friday, 14 February 2014



Cape Town, South Africa:


Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg,and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. The city is famous for its harbour as well as its natural setting in the Cape floral kingdom, as well as for such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point.Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town was originally developed by the Dutch East India Company as a victualling station for Dutch ships sailing to East Africa, India, and the Far East. Jan van Riebeeck's arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa. Cape Town quickly outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the development of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa. Today it is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. As of 2011 the metropolitan region had an estimated population of 3.74 million.The city was named the World Design Capital for 2014 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design.


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Wednesday, 1 January 2014



Sunset at Knysna Lagoon, South Africa:


Knysna is a town with 51,078 inhabitants in the Western Cape Province of South Africa and is part of the Garden Route. It lies 34 degrees south of the equator, and is 72 kilometres east from the town of George on the N2 highway, and 25 kilometres west of Plettenberg Bay on the same road.Little is known about the indigenous inhabitants of Knysna, the Khoikhoi. The area east of present-day George was separated by high mountains and deep gorges, making it virtually inaccessible to European travelersNevertheless, the first Europeans arrived in the area in 1760, and the farm Melkhoutkraal was established on the eastern shore of the Knysna Lagoon. Stephanus Terblans, the first European farmer to settle in the area, was given a loan permit to farm here.Upon moving to Knysna George Rex, a British-born entrepreneur credited as being the founder of Knysna, bought Melkhoutkraal and the farm of Eastford in 1804. He gave 80 acres of Eastford was given to the Colonial Government, on which the Royal Navy established the township of Melville. Rex’s properties were sold when he passed away in 1839.In April 1817, the transport brig Emu, belonging to the Cape Town Dockyard, was the first European vessel to enter the Knysna. She struck a rock, now known as Emu Rock, and was holed.Her crew ran Emu ashore to prevent her sinking. In late April HMS Podargus arrived to render assistance.After surveying the area, Podargus sailed safely into the Knysna and retrieved Emu's cargo.

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Thursday, 26 December 2013



Drakensberg, South Africa:


The Drakensberg is the highest mountain range in Southern Africa, rising to 3,482 metres in height. Its geological history lends it a distinctive character amongst the mountain ranges of the world. Geologically, the range resembles the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia. The Drakensberg mountains span the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mpumalanga and end in Tzaneen in Limpopo Province.During Precambrian times, volcanic eruptions in the area resulted in lava covering large sections of the Southern African sub-continent. In the Palaeozoic Era, wind and water deposited thick layers of shale, mudstone and sandstone, now known as the Karoo Supergroup, over the ancient primary rock. When Gondwanaland began to break up 200 million years ago, the resultant forces caused the extrusion of magma, known as Drakensberg lava, through fissures and cracks in the Earth's surface.In the Drakensberg region it capped the sedimentary rock formations with layers of solid basalt up to 1400 m thick. Weathering reduced the range's size, and caused the plateau to recede. In modern times, continued erosion has exposed some of the underlying sediment.

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Sunday, 22 December 2013



Cape Town, South Africa


Cape Town is the second-most populated city in South Africa, after Johannesburg,and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. The city is famous for its harbour as well as its natural setting in the Cape floral kingdom, as well as for such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point.Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town was originally developed by the Dutch East India Company as a victualling station for Dutch ships sailing to East Africa, India, and the Far East. Jan van Riebeeck's arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa. Cape Town quickly outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the development of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa. Today it is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. As of 2011 the metropolitan region had an estimated population of 3.74 million.The city was named the World Design Capital for 2014 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design.


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Wednesday, 11 December 2013



Kogel Bay, South Africa:


The Kogelberg is a range of mountains along the False Bay coast in the Western Cape of South Africa. They form part of the Cape Fold Belt, starting south of Grabouw and forming a steep coastal range as far as Kleinmond.The Kogelberg area has the steepest and highest drop directly into the ocean of any southern African coastal stretch.The mountains are made predominantly of Table Mountain Sandstone and form some very rugged terrain, which is extremely rich in fynbos, the native Cape flora. The Elgin Valley's surrounding mountain ranges are considered the hub of the Cape floral kingdom. They contain more plant species than anywhere else in the floral region, and a large section of the mountain range is now protected in the massive Kogelberg Nature Reserve. The unique local vegetation type is classified as Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos.The climate is Mediterranean, however much milder than average, due to constant maritime winds blowing off the South Atlantic Ocean. Winters are wet to very wet and cool, with summers being dry, warm and windy. Snow occasionally occurs on the highest peaks. The area is protected within the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve and comprises a core area of 103 629ha of protected land. The highest mountain is Koeëlberg rising to 1289m above Koeël Bay.

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Friday, 22 November 2013





Boulders Beach is a sheltered beach made up of inlets between granite boulders, from which the name originated. It is located in the Cape Peninsula, near Simon's Town towards Cape Point, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is also commonly known as Boulders Bay.It is a popular tourist stop because of a colony of African Penguins which settled there in 1982. Boulders Beach forms part of the Table Mountain National Park.Although set in the midst of a residential area, it is one of the few sites where this vulnerable bird can be observed at close range, wandering freely in a protected natural environment.From just two breeding pairs in 1982, the penguin colony has grown to about 3,000 birds in recent years. This is partly due to the reduction in commercial pelagic trawling in False Bay, which has increased the supply of pilchards and anchovy, which form part of the penguins' diet.Bordered mainly by indigenous bush above the high-water mark on the one side, and the clear water of False Bay on the other, the area comprises a number of small sheltered bays, partially enclosed by granite boulders that are 540 million years old.The most popular recreational spot is Boulders Beach, but the penguins are best viewed from Foxy Beach, where newly constructed boardwalks take visitors to within a few meters of the birds.It is also a popular swimming beach, although humans are restricted to beaches adjacent to the penguin colony.

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Monday, 23 September 2013

Kruger National Park, South Africa::



Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,633 square kilometres (7,580 sq mi) in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 kilometres (220 mi) from north to south and 65 kilometres (40 mi) from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926.To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Mozambique. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.
The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere, an area designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere").

The park lies in the north-east of South Africa, in the eastern parts of Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces. Phalaborwa, Limpopo is the only town in South Africa that borders the Kruger National Park. It is one of the largest national parks in the world, with an area of 19,485 square kilometres (7,523 sq mi) The park is approximately 360 kilometres (220 mi) long, and has an average width of 65 kilometres (40 mi). At its widest point, the park is 90 kilometres (56 mi) wide from east to west.To the north and south of the park two rivers, the Limpopo and the Crocodile respectively, act as its natural boundaries. To the east the Lebombo Mountains separate it from Mozambique. Its western boundary runs parallel with this range, roughly 65 km distant. The park varies in altitude between 200 m in the east and 840 m in the south-west near Berg-en-Dal. The highest point in the park is here, a hill called Khandzalive. Several rivers run through the park from west to east, including the Sabie, Olifants, Crocodile, Letaba, Luvuvhu and Limpopo Rivers.


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