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Facts about Africa

In preparation for your travel to Africa

  • AREA: 30,420,000 km² - 11,635,000 miles²
  • APPROXIMATE SIZE: Larger than the United States, Europe and China combined. Africa covers 20% of the world’s land surface and is the second largest continent.
  • POPULATION:1.58 BILLION at end of 2025
  • Up from 808,304,000 in the year 2000 and  1.166 BILLION at end of 2014
  • 50.9% of the population is below 20 years old and the population split fairly evenly between male & female
  • The population is estimated to reach 4.2 billion by the end of the century
  • LARGEST WATERFALL: Victoria Falls which is also the largest waterfall in the world by volume – It is twice the height of Niagara Falls and one-and-a-half times wider.
  • LONGEST RIVER:The Nile River at 6710 km (4160 miles) making it the longest river in the world.
  • LONGEST LAKE: Lake Tanganyika is the world’s longest lake at 714 km (446 miles) and the second deepest lake in the world at 1433 m (4700 feet)
  • LONGEST RIFT VALLEY: The Great Rift Valley - 9500 km (5900 miles) long stretching from the Red Sea to Malawi with 30 active volcanoes
  • HIGHEST MOUNTAIN: Mt Kilimanjaro at 5895 meters (19340 feet) is also the highest free-standing mountain in the world.
  • THE OLDEST MOUNTAIN RANGE: Barberton Greenstone Belt is the oldest mountain range on earth dated at 3.5 billion years old
  • THE OLDEST DESERT: The Namib Desert with arid conditions over the last 50 – 80 million years
  • LARGEST CRATER: Ngorongoro Crater, 19km (12miles) wide – 264 km² (102 m²) floor with the rim rising 366 – 488 meters (1200 – 1600 feet) high making it the largest intact crater in the world.
  • LARGEST LAKE: Lake Victoria at 69485 km² (16828 m²) is the third largest lake in the world.
  • LARGEST FRESHWATER OASIS: The Okavango Delta. An inland Delta and wildlife paradise in Botswana measuring over 15000 km² (6000 m²) when in peak flood.
  • LARGEST DRAINAGE BASIN: Congo River Basin of 3,822,840 km² (1,476,000 m²) is the world’s second largest.
  • LARGEST DESERT: Sahara Desert which is the world’s largest desert and it is larger than continental USA
  • THE LARGEST LAND MAMMAL: The African Elephant is the world’s largest mammal with bulls weighing around 6800 kg (15,000 lbs)
  • LARGEST BIRD: The Ostrich is the world’s largest bird with a height of 2.5 meters (8 feet)
  • THE MOST SPECIES OF FISH: Lake Malawi with over 500 species recorded
  • HIGHEST NUMBER OF MOBILE PHONES: South Africa with 119 million registered cell phones in a population of 63 million (2024)