South Africa

South Africa in pictures

Flag, landscapes, landmarks and wildlife you can meet in the games. Photographs come from each subject’s Wikipedia article.

• 

  Flag

  Flag of South Africa

  National flag

• 🌍Table Mountain

  Landscape

  Table Mountain

  A real place in South Africa

• ⛰️Table Mountain

  Landmark

  Table Mountain

  A flat-topped mountain over Cape Town, often covered by a 'tablecloth' of cloud.

• 🦏Mapungubwe

  Landmark

  Mapungubwe

  A gold rhinoceros from a kingdom that traded across the Indian Ocean by 1200.

• 🦏Kruger National Park

  Landmark

  Kruger National Park

  All of Africa's 'big five' animals live inside its fences.

• 🚢Robben Island

  Landmark

  Robben Island

  Nelson Mandela spent eighteen of his twenty-seven prison years here.

• 🏞️Blyde River Canyon

  Landmark

  Blyde River Canyon

  One of the largest green canyons on the planet.

• 🦁Lion

  Wildlife

  Lion

  Lions are the only big cats that live in family groups, called prides.

• 🦒Giraffe

  Wildlife

  Giraffe

  A giraffe's neck has exactly seven bones, the same number as yours.

• 🦏Black rhinoceros

  Wildlife

  Black rhinoceros

  Namibia protects the last truly wild desert-adapted rhinos.

• 🐧African penguin

  Wildlife

  African penguin

  Yes — Africa has penguins, nesting on beaches near Cape Town.

• 🐆Leopard

  Wildlife

  Leopard

  The strongest climber of the big cats — it can haul prey heavier than itself up a trunk.

• 🐗Warthog

  Wildlife

  Warthog

  It reverses into its burrow so its tusks face any visitor.

• 🦡Meerkat

  Wildlife

  Meerkat

  One meerkat always stands guard while the others dig for food.

• 🪶Ostrich

  Wildlife

  Ostrich

  It can outrun a racehorse and kick hard enough to hurt a lion.

• 🐒Vervet monkey

  Wildlife

  Vervet monkey

  It has different alarm calls for eagle, snake and leopard.

• 🐖Aardvark

  Wildlife

  Aardvark

  Its name means 'earth pig' — and its burrows shelter dozens of other animals.

• 🦔Ground pangolin

  Wildlife

  Ground pangolin

  The only mammal covered in scales, made of the same stuff as your fingernails.

• 🦌Greater kudu

  Wildlife

  Greater kudu

  Its spiral horns make two and a half full turns.

• 🦌Gemsbok oryx

  Wildlife

  Gemsbok oryx

  It can let its body heat up to 45 °C rather than waste water sweating.

• 🦌Springbok

  Wildlife

  Springbok

  It 'pronks' — bouncing stiff-legged two metres into the air.

• 🦅Secretary bird

  Wildlife

  Secretary bird

  It kills snakes by stamping on them with the force of five times its body weight.

• 🐦Grey crowned crane

  Wildlife

  Grey crowned crane

  Uganda's national bird, with a golden crown of stiff feathers.

• 🐦‍⬛Southern ground hornbill

  Wildlife

  Southern ground hornbill

  It can live for sixty years and only raises one chick every nine.

• 🐟Coelacanth

  Wildlife

  Coelacanth

  Thought extinct for 65 million years until one was caught in 1938.

• 🦭Cape fur seal

  Wildlife

  Cape fur seal

  Colonies of over 200,000 seals gather on a single stretch of sand.

• 🐍Puff adder

  Wildlife

  Puff adder

  It hisses like a puff of steam, which is where the name comes from.

• 🐍Black mamba

  Wildlife

  Black mamba

  Africa's fastest snake — its mouth, not its skin, is inky black.

• 🐈Serval

  Wildlife

  Serval

  It leaps three metres straight up to catch birds in mid-air.

• 🐈Caracal

  Wildlife

  Caracal

  Its tufted ears swivel like radar dishes to pinpoint prey.

• 🐈Common genet

  Wildlife

  Common genet

  It can squeeze through any gap its head fits through.

• 🦡Honey badger

  Wildlife

  Honey badger

  Its loose skin lets it twist around and bite an attacker holding it.

• 🦔Cape porcupine

  Wildlife

  Cape porcupine

  Africa's largest rodent — its quills are hollow and rattle in warning.

• 🐒Bushbaby

  Wildlife

  Bushbaby

  It can jump over two metres between branches in total darkness.

• 🐹Rock hyrax

  Wildlife

  Rock hyrax

  It looks like a guinea pig, but its closest relative is the elephant.

• 🐂Common eland

  Wildlife

  Common eland

  A tonne in weight and still able to clear a two-metre fence.

• 🦌Nyala

  Wildlife

  Nyala

  Males are shaggy and grey, females bright chestnut — as if two species.

• 🦌Blue duiker

  Wildlife

  Blue duiker

  It dives into thickets head first, which is what 'duiker' means.

• 🐕Black-backed jackal

  Wildlife

  Black-backed jackal

  Pairs mate for life and hunt, raise pups and defend a patch together.

• 🦊Bat-eared fox

  Wildlife

  Bat-eared fox

  It listens for termites chewing underground, then digs them out.

• 🐦Hamerkop

  Wildlife

  Hamerkop

  It builds the biggest nest of any African bird — strong enough to stand on.

• 🏙️Pretoria

  City

  Pretoria

  Capital of South Africa

• 🏙️Bloemfontein

  City

  Bloemfontein

  Capital of South Africa

• 🏙️Cape Town

  City

  Cape Town

  Capital of South Africa

Quick facts

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