Facts About Africa

[StuartDH]

Africa is the second largest continent on earth

The length of Africa's coastline is approximately 18,950 miles

The highest mountain in Africa is Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, which is 19,317 ft high

Nearly 25% of Africa is forest or woodland

The smallest butterfly in the world is the Dwarf Blue Butterfly and it can be found in South Africa

The biggest frog in the world is the Goliath Frog, which lives in Cameroon

The Antartic currents on the west coast of Africa are sold cold that they are home to a thriving colony of penguins


If you know any more facts about Africa's wildlife and environment and the great outdoors then please add them here

[prashant]

The United Republic of Tanzania was formed out of the union of two sovereign states namely Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Tanganyika became a sovereign state on 9th December, 1961 and became a Republic the following year. Zanzibar became independent on 10th December, 1963 and the People's Republic of Zanzibar was established after the revolution of 12th January, 1964. The two sovereign republics formed the United Republic of Tanzania on 26th April, 1964. However, the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania is a unitary republic consisting of the Union Government and the Zanzibar Revolutionary Government.


Tanzania is the biggest (land area) among the East African countries (i.e. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania). Tanzania has a spectacular landscape of mainly three physiographic regions namely the Islands and the coastal plains to the east; the inland saucer-shaped plateau; and the highlands. The Great Rift Valley that runs from north east of Africa through central Tanzania is another landmark that adds to the scenic view of the country. The country has the largest concentration of wild animals. It also has pristine sandy beaches and Africa’s highest and snow-capped mountain, Mt. Kilimanjaro. Tanzania is home to the world famous National Parks and Game Reserves of: Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Selous Game Reserve, Gombe Stream, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Mikumi, Arusha, Ruaha, Saadani, Udzungwa Mountains, and Mkomazi Game Reserve. Other Game Reserves include: Amani, Kigosi, Lukwika-Lumesule, Maswa, Monduli Mountains, Msangesi and Ugala.

Dar es Salaam is the commercial capital and major sea port for Tanzania Mainland and it serves neighbouring land-locked countries of Malawi, Zambia, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda, as well as Eastern DRC. Other sea ports include Zanzibar, Tanga, and Mtwara. Because of its geographical and locational advantage, Dar es Salaam Port presents itself as the gateway into East and Central Africa. Furthermore, this renders Tanzania as a logical investment destination for investors.

Population: 35,922,454
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2003 est.)

[Emmanuel70]

Africa is home to the endangered Eastern Lowland Gorilla found in Eastern Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo). This subspecies of the Eastern Gorilla has been severely impacted by the the armed strife in the area and influx of impoverished migrants attracted by Coltan (Columbite-Tantalite), an ore used to produce Tantallum, primary material for the capacitors in your cell phones, DVD players, game consoles.

Cell Phone Recycling and Gorillas - The Hidden Connection
National Geographic: "Can Cell Phone Recycling Help African Gorillas?"

[goosey]

Originally Posted by Emmanuel70

Africa is home to the endangered Eastern Lowland Gorilla found in Eastern Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo). This subspecies of the Eastern Gorilla has been severely impacted by the the armed strife in the area and influx of impoverished migrants attracted by Coltan (Columbite-Tantalite), an ore used to produce Tantallum, primary material for the capacitors in your cell phones, DVD players, game consoles.

Cell Phone Recycling and Gorillas - The Hidden Connection
National Geographic: "Can Cell Phone Recycling Help African Gorillas?"

Frostfire wrote a post a while back about one of the Dutch zoo's which are also collecting mobile telephones aswell :-

Frostfire. I think most the zoos in Holland really do do their best to be productive and not just entertainment. Something I stumbled upon a week or two ago was this: Blijdorp, a zoo in Rotterdam, which belongs to one of the best conservation projects in Europe, is now also striding to help the rainforests in Congo and whilst doing that protecting the natural habitat of the gorilla.
They are doing this by collecting old mobile phones and working together with a company which gives a certain amount of money for each collected mobile and recycles the wolfram used in the mobile. The reason Blijdorp is collecting mobiles to be recycled, is because the metal in it is escavated in the rainforests of Africa and by recycling it there is less need to destroy more forest. Also, the total amount they get from the company is spent on helping the gorillas in Congo.
There are different ways of handing in your old mobiles: there are dispensers in the zoo itself, or you can send of for special enveloppes to send your old phones to them and without postage costs.
Personnally I think this really simple way of raising money in a way everyone can join in, is a fantastic project and hope more zoos all around the world will take notice and also find ways like this to help nature a little bit more!

Here is a link for the Dutch among us who are interested:
Diergaarde Blijdorp - Mobieltjes voor gorilla's

It's great that zoo's have picked up on this initiative, and hopefully it will be a great success. Our old mobiles also went to the Blijdorp appeal .
Zoos

[luvcruise]

Thinking of Africa always excites me, being a wildlife lover can I expect a better place where I can get to see them in the full vigor! I was wondering if I there are any groups that can be found online who organizes tours to Africa so that I can be optimistic of being a accomplice with them too. Eventually I have been a solo traveler but this is one place where I want to share the prolific experiences with others can you people help me on this? Any news about the Holiday villas there?

[paul m]

One of those cases where a "good" idea (growing biofuel) becomes a "bad" idea (destroying wildlife habitat):
Wildlife and livelihoods at risk in Kenyan wetlands biofuel project | Environment | The Guardian

How are such conflicts to be avoided?

[black]

Scientists at Liverpool Uni have been investigating a Madagascan plant Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi. They believe that the novel genes found in Kalanchoe could provide a model of how bio-fuel plants could be grown on un-utilised desert and semi-arid lands, rather than on fertile farmland needed for producing food.