8 Things You Might Not Know About My Country, South Africa

South Africa is a beautiful and diverse nation that other countries possibly might not know much about. Here are some interesting things you might not know, including 2 “inside jokes” about South Africa (including my city, Cape Town):

1. South Africa has 12 official languages, including English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu, and South African Sign Language.

2. South Africa is home to the Big 5: Lions, Elephants, Rhinos, Buffalo, and Leopards. These animals even appear on our bank notes, with each animal appearing on a specific note value (eg. Rhino on the R10 note, Elephant on R20, and Leopard on the highest one, R200)

Despite the fact that some people think lions and elephants walk around in the streets (This is FALSE), we have developed cities like any other country and wild animals do not roam freely in the suburbs and the cities. Although, you might come across a baboon in your backyard depending on where you live!

3. We have 3 capital cities: Cape Town, Pretoria, and Bloemfontein.

4. Cape Town is a sought-after location for international film productions and thus we have had many movies and series filmed here.

5. Cape Town is home to the famous Table Mountain.

6. After the end of the Apartheid era, Archbishop Desmond Tutu dubbed South Africa the “Rainbow Nation” to represent the diversity and multitude of cultures living in unity in our country.

Now, for some “inside jokes” that you would only know if you live here:

7. Capetonians (People from Cape Town) often say that we go through four seasons in one day in Cape Town as the weather is often a little unpredictable and can shift dramatically over the course of a day (it could be sunny skies and warm weather in the morning, then overcast in the afternoon, and suddenly cold and rainy by the evening, as an example). This doesn’t always happen of course, but usually in between seasons it can be quite common.

8. South Africans have quite a unique sense of humour and we love to “roast” (make fun of) our own country. We often say that this is how we deal with adversity and challenges. Our country has its problems, but instead of focusing solely on negativity, we are united through laughter.

A photo of me on top of Table Mountain in 2017