50+ Bizarre Facts About Africa That You Should Know
Africa is the second largest continent in the world with a geographical area of 11.7 million Square miles. The culturally diverse continent hosts over two thousand different languages. It’s no wonder that there are so many crazy and fun facts surrounding the continent.
From banana beers to mummies in ancient Egypt, goliath frogs in Cameroon, and sandboarding on the Sossusvlei sand dunes of Namibia, Africa has so many interesting facts that you should know.
Keep reading to find out more bizarre facts surrounding the African continent!
For ease in reading, I have decided to group our fun facts into seven categories:
- Colonial facts
- East Africa Facts
- Central Africa Facts
- Southern Africa Facts
- West Africa Facts
- North Africa Facts
- Just Bizarre!
Now, sit back, grab a snack and let’s delve into some of Africa’s weirdest facts that you should know!
Colonial Facts
Facts that will be listed in this section are facts that are either related to or happened during the period of Africa’s colonization.
Hope you enjoy reading them!
- Within the seventh to the twentieth centuries, 18 million Africans were shipped overseas as slaves.
- Liberia and Ethiopia are the only African countries that were never colonized.
The United States founded Liberia in 1821 so their free black residents could find a place to settle down but it wasn’t colonized after gaining full independence in 1847. Ethiopia was briefly occupied by Italy in 1936 during World War II but it only lasted for 5 years. It was never colonized. - More people speak French in Africa than those that speak French in France. It’s the same with Portuguese. More people speak Portuguese in Africa than in Portugal.
Weird right?
East Africa Facts
East Africa is the area that covers the eastern region of the African continent. A total of nineteen countries make up the East African region.
These countries are Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Somaliland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Facts that will be highlighted in this section revolve around interesting information that concerns East African countries. Enjoy!
1. The East African country of Mauritius was once home to the Dodo bird that inspired the renowned book, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It went extinct in the late 1600s.
2. Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest free-standing mountain by world standards. It also serves as the highest peak in Africa with a height of 5,895 metres (19,341 ft) above sea level and around 4,900 metres (16,100 ft) above the base of its plateau.
3. Banana beers are produced across many countries in East Africa. The beer is made from ripe East African Highland bananas and goes by different names in different parts of the region.
4. Popular singer, Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar. It’s a group of islands off the coast of Tanzania.
5. Among the five fastest land animals, four can be found in East Africa. They are the cheetah, the wildebeest, the gazelle, and the lion.
6. ‘The Great Wildebeest Migration’ is a yearly tourist event that features the spectacular sight of millions of wildebeests migrating from Tanzania to Kenya at full speed.
The event usually occurs around July or during the dry season and is well known to garner lots of tourist attractions each year.
*[For better visualization, remember that scene where a herd of animals start running where Mufasa dies in The Lion King? Those animals are wildebeests and that scene is what the great wildebeest migration looks like.]*
Exhilarating, isn’t it?
7. Seychelles is the smallest country in Africa. The entire country is an island in the Eastern region of the continent.
8. Madagascar is Africa’s largest island.
9. Some of the world’s fastest runners like Dennis Kimetto and Wilson Kipsang are from Kenya. Kalenji is a Kenyan tribe that has produced many of these fastest runners.
10. Tanzanite is one of the most precious gemstones in the world and it can only be found in Tanzania. It was discovered by a Masai warrior in the 1800s.
Central Africa Facts
Central Africa is a subregion of Africa that constitutes a total of twelve countries.
These countries are Chad, Zambia, Central African Republic, Angola, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Rwanda, Burundi, São Tomé and Príncipe, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon.
The facts highlighted in this section include interesting information about Central African countries.
1. Luanda is a city in Angola that is well known for its sophistication. The city’s regal atmosphere has earned the city the title, the “Paris of Africa”.
2. Angola produced a Miss Universe in 2011 during the beauty pageant. Angola’s representative, Leila Lopes won first place as Miss Universe.
3. Gorilla tracking is well known as a leisure sport in Rwanda. Tourists are guided into the mountains and shown how gorillas behave in their natural habitat. The tours serve as a fundraiser for the preservation of the gorillas.
4. Rwanda has a very strict policy that places an absolute ban on non-biodegradable polythene bags and plastic containers. Anything that cannot be broken down by living organisms is strictly prohibited in the country.
Luggage is thoroughly checked at the airports to prevent such products from entering the country.
5. After World War II, the second deadliest war in the history of humanity is the Second Congo War.
Southern Africa Facts
The southern region of the African continent comprises the following countries, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The region boasts many interesting facts which we will be listing shortly. Do enjoy.
1. South African influencers Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela were recipients of the Nobel Prize awards.
At some point, both individuals also lived on the same street. The name of the street was Vilakazi Street. It was situated in Orlando West, Soweto, Johannesburg.
2. J.R.R. Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State. The South African author wrote the famous Lord of The Rings book series.
3. Johannesburg is popularly referred to as ‘The City of Gold’. This is because its establishment was a result of the discovery and mining of gold in its surrounding areas.
4. About half of all the gold mined worldwide is from Witwatersrand, South Africa.
5. Route 62 is the longest wine route in the world and it is situated on the Western Cape of South Africa. The route spans a length of 850 kilometres.
6. Sandboarding is a fun sport worldwide and the sand dunes in Namibia rank highest because the country is made up of a lot of desert land. The Sossusvlei Sand Dunes rank top tier by world standards.
7. The Kruger National Park is one of the biggest nature reserves in the world. It is situated in South Africa.
8. Victoria Falls stands majestically at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is one of the seven wonders of the world.
9. The rumble of Victoria Falls can be heard from as far as forty kilometres away.
10. The African Penguins can be found on South Africa’s west coast due to how low the temperature is around there.
11. Inside the country of South Africa, there’s a smaller independent country called Lesotho. It’s a country within a country.
12. The world’s first human heart transplant was done thirty-five years ago by Christiaan Barnard at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.
The first CAT scan was also done in South Africa.
13. In South Africa, there’s a bar built into a 6,000-year-old baobab tree. The bar is open all year Iong.
14. Blood Diamond had most of its thrilling scenes shot in Maputo, Mozambique. The movie starred the famous actor, Leonardo DiCaprio.
15. There are over two hundred thousand windmills in South Africa. Definitely a lot more than the ten thousand found in the Netherlands.
West Africa Facts
Africa’s western region comprises a total of sixteen countries. They are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
Below are some of the interesting facts surrounding west African countries.
1. The richest man in history is Mansa Musa I of Mali. In the early 1300s, he ruled the entire West Africa by making a fortune from Mali’s gold and salt production.
2. Lac Rose is a pink lake in Senegal. The pink colour is a result of a particular type of bacteria but the lake is safe to swim in.
3. Nigeria has produced more twins than any other country in the world. Thus, the nickname “The Land of Twins”.
4. Crazy as it may sound, Nigeria’s Nollywood is bigger than Hollywood. This is because the country releases over a thousand movies every year.
5. When it comes to cocoa production, Ghana is the world’s second-largest producer of cocoa.
North Africa Facts
The northern part of Africa comprises seven countries. They are Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara.
The following facts surround these countries:
1. Moroccans consider it rude when they get rejected after offering meat during meals. Vegetarians might have a hard time in those situations.
2. Many scenes in the Star Wars series were filmed in Tunisia. Star Wars fans are allowed to visit and stay at some of the movie’s sets.
3. Many buildings in Tunisia are built with fish bones because the locals believe that fishes have supernatural powers and as such, ward off evil spirits.
4. The Sahara desert is currently larger than the entire United States (and it is still growing!). It spans a third of the entire African continent.
5. The Egyptians are said to have created the 365 days calendar so they could predict the annual Nile flooding.
6. Al’Aziziyah is a city in Libya. It was once recorded as the hottest place in the world with degrees as high as 136.4⁰F ( 58⁰C).
7. There are over two hundred pyramids in Sudan. (This is more than the amount in Egypt!)
Just Bizarre!
Here, we’re going to be looking at facts from all over the continent that are just weird and mind-boggling.
This section is this article’s highlight.
1. The Goliath frog is the world’s largest frog. It lives in Cameroon and can grow up to 12 inches long.
2. Car owners are permitted to install flame throwers on their cars to prevent hijacking under South African law.
3. There is a large nuclear power station built on a fault line in Cape Town.
Although, the last time any tremor was felt was in 1809. Still, it measured 6.5 on the Richter Scale.
4. The Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, had a rather unconventional title.
It was: “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular”.
5. Zambia has termite hills that are bigger than some houses.
6. In Morocco, the liver is considered a symbol of love, rather than the heart.
So, if a Moroccan tells you “I love you from the depths of my liver”, just know that they mean business.
7. The Barbary Slave Trade spanned the 16th to 19th Centuries. During that period, Barbary pirates enslaved Europeans and sold them off to Northern Africans.
Conclusion
There are so many wild and interesting facts that surround African heritage. These are only a few of them. If you know any other interesting facts about Africa, you can drop them in the comments section below. Hope you enjoyed it!
All images are sourced from istockphoto
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