Registry Node Page 10 of 12
Discover the story of our nation, one fact at a time.
The West Coast National Park is famous for its post-rain flower displays and for Langebaan Lagoon, one of the most important wetlands for migratory birds in South Africa. Thousands of waders visit the lagoon every year from the Arctic.
South Africa is the only country in the world that has two Nobel Peace Prize winners who were both Anglican archbishops: Desmond Tutu (1984) and later contributions from the same tradition of faith-based activism. (Note: Tutu is the primary one; Albert Luthuli was also a Nobel winner but Methodist.) Corrected: South Africa has produced four Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
The first public television broadcast in South Africa only began in 1976. Until then the country had no television service, making it one of the last industrialised nations to introduce TV.
The Tsitsikamma section of the Garden Route National Park contains some of the oldest and tallest indigenous yellowwood trees in South Africa. Some of these giants are more than 800 years old and tower over the forest canopy.
South Africa is one of the world’s top producers of ferrochrome, an essential alloy used to make stainless steel. Most of the production comes from the Bushveld Complex in the North West and Limpopo provinces.
The first democratically elected female mayor of a major South African city was elected in the 1990s after the end of apartheid. Women have since held many key political positions, including the speakership of Parliament and premierships of provinces.
The annual Hermanus Whale Festival is the only eco-festival in the world dedicated to the southern right whale. Every spring, these whales come close to the shore to calve and nurse their young, creating a major tourism event.
South Africa has a unique “Working for Water” programme that has cleared hundreds of thousands of hectares of invasive alien plants since 1995. The programme simultaneously creates jobs and restores water resources and biodiversity.
The first successful bone-marrow transplant in South Africa was performed in the 1970s. The country has since developed advanced haematology and oncology units that serve patients from across the African continent.
The first successful liver transplant in South Africa was performed in 1988 at Wits University’s teaching hospitals. The country has since become a regional leader in solid-organ transplantation.