South Africa
Edenvale -- I live in Edenvale, a town on the Eastern boundary of the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa. Continent of Africa. ( approximately co-ordinates, 26 degrees South and 28 degrees East). The average altitude above sea level of Johannesburg is 5500 feet. As a point of interest Johannesburg is the worlds largest non-commercial forest. Private people plant trees in their gardens which results in the suburbs, from a distance looking like a forest. Greater Johannesburg, including the out lying towns covers an area of roughly 120 square miles. The large amount of trees have resulted in a higher rainfall for the area than many years back, before the trees were planted.
Kruger National Park is a wild animal reserve, about the size of Israel. There are camps through-out the Park where visitors are able to stay in air-conditioned bungalows. During the day visitors drive around looking for game, or just parking under the shade of trees at water holes, waiting for the wild animals to come and drink.Visitors are not allowed out of their cars outside the camps.
Some types of animals:- African Elephant, Water Buffalo, Rhinoceros, Lion, Leopard (this group is known as "The Big Five") Cheetah and Giraffe. Then there are many types of antelope, just to name a few. Eland, the largest of the antelope family. Kudu, Nyala, Waterbuck, Sable Antelope, Roan Antelope, Impala, Capricorn, Hartebeest, Blue Wildebeest, Black Wildebeest, Bushbuck.Then the smallest antelope, the Dik-Dik, about 18 inches at the shoulder. Besides the Kruger National Park, there are many smaller game parks in South Africa. We also have a very large variety of snakes. Python, cobra, puffadder, treesnake(deadly poisonous type) and the non poisonous variety. The black and green mamba, these two verities are found along the sub-tropical coastal areas, with the green mamba only as far as roughly twenty miles from the coast, while the black mamba is also found further inland, the mamba is deadly poisonous. Without immediate treatment a man may survive for thirty minutes after being bitten. There are also many harmless types of snakes in South Africa. South Africa has many species of wild birds. Ostrich, Corrie Bustard (the largest flying bird), Parrots, most of the Ibis family, Plovers, Lourie group, Finches, Weavers, Owls, Horn Bills, Starlings - the list goes on and on.There are over 800 bird species in South Africa.
Johannesburg is the center of the area where gold was first discovered by the early pioneers. Springs, a city to the East of Johannesburg to Randfontein a city to the West of Johannesburg, is a distance of nearly sixty miles, known as the Reef. This is the area where gold is being mined. Some of the mines in the area have been mined out and closed down, but there are still large producing mines further away at the goldfields of Welkom in the Free State Province, about 180 miles to the South West of Johannesburg.The deepest mine is 13000 feet below the surface. The miners are taken down in stages - first descending from ground level in an elevator, then they are transported in a second elevator which takes them further down, after which they travel down an inclined elevator to the working areas. Other minerals that are mined are, diamonds, copper, zinc, tin, lead, platinum, rhodium, silver, manganese, iron ore, coal, anthracite etc. As a matter of interest, the Richards Bay Coal Terminal, on the East Coast, exports the largest tonnage of coal in the world per year. There are also two large aluminum processing plants in Richards Bay. Alumina is imported from overseas countries and processed to aluminum in these two factories.
The temperatures of Johannesburg, Summer maximum about 90F, on average around 80F. Average rainfall 37 inches per year. The rainy season is from October to April. On rare occasions it will rain in winter. The general rain pattern is afternoon storms during the summer. Winter, cold at night with frost, temperatures sometimes down to 29F. During the day we have blue skies with daytime temperatures around 60F to 70F. The South African Weather Website is www.weathersa.co.za
South Africa is like an upside down dinner plate. The center part of the country is a plateau rising from the coastal area to the high country. We have hills in the center section with a mountain range down the Eastern side of the country. The peaks in general range to about 7000 feet above sea level, but in the Province of Natal some mountain peaks are up to 11000 feet above sea level. The Eastern coastal area of the country is semi-tropical, while the Southern part has a Mediterranean climate, winter rains with fairly dry warm to hot summers. During winter, the mountain regions have snow falls from time to time. The vegetation throughout the country varies. The North and Eastern part of the country has hot summers up to 100F and mild warm winters. Vegetation is generally grasslands, interspersed with thorn trees, i.e. bush country. The vegetation of the coastal areas is lush and green, very similar to California. The Central Western area is semi-desert, known as the Karoo. Hot dry summers with very little rain and cold dry winters, night time temperatures around 20F. Again to give you an example, similar to Nevada or Arizona.
South Africa has just about every type of fruit and vegetable that one can find. The reason is the diverse climate of South Africa, from tropical fruits to fruit and vegetables that would normally be found in cooler climates e.g. apples, pears, grapes, nuts, etc. Unfortunately there is a very severe food shortage in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Swaziland, Malawi, Angola, The Republic of Congo, etc. These countries are semi-tropical to tropical, but as a result of internal fighting, farmers are unable to plant. Some of the farmers are being removed from the lands and the farms have been given over to people of the ruling party that have no knowledge of farming. These countries are mainly controlled by dictators that are blaming the weather for the food shortage.
We have large motor manufacturing plants, these produce cars for the local market as well as exporting vehicles to other countries. There are also large manufacturing facilities producing military equipment for export.There are textile factories in the country, producing textile materials as well as clothing, shoe manufactures for dress wear as well as industrial use, large paper mills, timber processing factories, ship building for smaller craft, large fisheries, fertilizer factories, one nuclear power station outside Cape Town (at the Southern tip of Africa) and many coal burning power stations. We have a large factory producing gasoline and oil from coal, including industrial gas.
South Africa covers six percent of the African Continent and produces about 80% of Electricity consumed in Africa and 50% of the food. 75% of the railroads are in South Africa and about the same amount of roads.
One cannot mention all the many plusses of South Africa without mentioning the decimation of the people by the HIV/Aids virus, which is rampant as a result of promiscuity. It was mentioned on our national TV that it is estimated that in five years time, 50% of the workforce will have died.
I hope this will give you some idea of South Africa. Incidentally we drive on the left side of the road, like England.