Wacky Wednesday: Interesting facts about SA
South Africa is a place that surprises and delights in unexpected ways. Here are some of the facts that make our country extraordinary.
– SA is the largest producer of Macadamia nuts in the world
– The first heart transplant was done in SA in 1967 by surgeon Dr. Christiaan Barnard, a South African doctor at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.
– SA has the world’s largest wine route. It spans from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, covering 850 kilometres.
– SA is home to some of Earth’s oldest mountains. The Barberton Mountains in Mpumalanga are about 3,5 billion years old, older than the Himalayas or Alps. Table Mountain has been around for around 240 million years.
– SA has the world’s largest crater formed when an asteroid hit the Free State over 2 billion years ago. The crate is 170-300 kilometres wide.
– SA has the world’s highest bridge bungee jump.The Bloukrans Bridge offers one of the world’s highest bridge bungee jumps, at 216 meters, making it a thrilling adventure for adrenaline junkies.
– SA is home to 11 Nobel Prize winners, in different categories from literature and physics to peace.
Here are some of the winners:
- Max Theiler Nobel for Physiology or Medicine received in 1951 for developing a vaccine against yellow fever in 1937
- Albert Luthuli for Peace in 1960 for his role in leading the nonviolent anti-apartheid movement in South Africa
- Sydney Brenner for Physiology or Medicine in 2002 for his work on the genetic code and programmed cell death (awarded together with H. Robert Horvitz and John E. Sulston)
- Nadine Gordimer Literature in 1991
- Aaron Klug for Chemistry in 1982 for developing crystallographic electron microscopy and structural elucidating nucleic acid-protein complexes.
- Nelson Mandel and FW De Klerk in 1993 for their work in ensuring a peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy.
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu in in1984 for his role in the anti apartheid struggle.
The news provided to you in this link has been investigated and compiled by the editorial staff of the Newcastle Advertiser, a sold newspaper distributed in the Newcastle area.
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