South Africa photograph

South Africa

Use attributes for filter !
Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa
Capitals Cape Town
Pretoria
Bloemfontein
Dialing code +27
Currency South African rand
Population56. 72 million (2017)
Date of Reg.
Date of Upd.
ID734428
Send edit request

About South Africa


South Africa is a country on the southernmost tip of the African continent, marked by several distinct ecosystems. Inland safari destination Kruger National Park is populated by big game. The Western Cape offers beaches, lush winelands around Stellenbosch and Paarl, craggy cliffs at the Cape of Good Hope, forest and lagoons along the Garden Route, and the city of Cape Town, beneath flat-topped Table Mountain.

South Africa: The region where political violence is on the rise ahead of elections

South Africa: The region where political violence is on the rise ahead of elections
Dec 3,2023 8:41 pm

...By Fergal KeaneBBC NewsThirty years after the transition from apartheid to a democratic South Africa, Fergal Keane returns to a country experiencing increasing political violence in a key region to see what happened to the hopes and promises of a better nation...

BBC Sound of 2024: Tyla, Last Dinner Party and Kenya Grace tipped for success

BBC Sound of 2024: Tyla, Last Dinner Party and Kenya Grace tipped for success
Dec 3,2023 7:21 pm

... South Africa s Tyla also makes the cut, hot on the heels of her hit single Water; as does Nigeria s Ayra Starr...

Israel-Gaza war: The Red Cross's delicate role in hostage crises

Israel-Gaza war: The Red Cross's delicate role in hostage crises
Nov 27,2023 12:11 pm

... Global hotspotsDuring Nelson Mandela s long imprisonment in apartheid South Africa, the ICRC visited him regularly on Robben Island...

Argentina election: Javier Milei's radical proposals face test of reality

Argentina election: Javier Milei's radical proposals face test of reality
Nov 26,2023 11:41 am

... Mr Milei s predecessor, outgoing left-wing President Alberto Fernández, had carefully nurtured ties with Beijing and had welcomed an invitation to join Brics, the China-led group which also comprises Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa...

Oscar Pistorius to be freed on parole

Oscar Pistorius to be freed on parole
Nov 24,2023 6:41 am

... Pistorius, now 37, was sentenced by a South African court in 2016 to serve 13 years in prison...

Climate change: Rise in Google searches around ‘anxiety'

Climate change: Rise in Google searches around ‘anxiety'
Nov 21,2023 9:11 pm

... Countries in the Global South - such as Chile, the Philippines and South Africa - represented smaller shares of search queries...

Obama, Clooney and Gates: 'We can end child marriage in a generation'

Obama, Clooney and Gates: 'We can end child marriage in a generation'
Nov 20,2023 10:51 pm

... " The three women spoke exclusively to BBC 100 Women during a visit to Malawi and South Africa...

Hannes Strydom: Ex-South Africa rugby star dies in car crash

Hannes Strydom: Ex-South Africa rugby star dies in car crash
Nov 20,2023 7:31 am

...By Gem O ReillyBBC NewsSouth Africa s former rugby star Hannes Strydom has died in a car accident at the age of 58...

Jacky Hunt-Broersma: The cancer survivor who ran 104 marathons in 104 days

Nov 17,2023 3:21 am

A Woman who took up running after she lost her left leg to cancer has passed the Guinness World Record for most consecutive marathons.

Jacky Hunt-Broersma, 46, has run 26. 2-miles Every Day since mid-January, normally taking around five hours.

On Saturday, she completed her 104th consecutive marathon in as many Days - an achievement she expects to be certified by Guinness World Records.

A spokesperson said certifying the record would take around three months.

Waking Up on Sunday - a Day Off at long Last - was a bizarre experience for Jacky .

" Part of me was really happy to be done, " she tells The Bbc from her home in Arizona. " And The Other part kept thinking I need to go running. "

Her body is also recovering from the record-chasing effort, despite having stopped. " I feel tighter than I have the whole 104 marathons, " she admits.

But Jacky - who was born and raised in South Africa , and has also lived in England and the Netherlands - is grateful. Because running has given her the confidence she was afraid she would never regain.

In 2002, doctors in the Netherlands diagnosed her with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer.

Within Two Weeks , they amputated her left leg to save her life. She was only 26 Years old.

" It was a rollercoaster, " she recalls. " Everything happened so fast. "

For The First couple of years, Jacky struggled with The Change in her life. She was angry that she had got cancer and embarrassed to be different. She wore long trousers in public so people would not notice the prosthetic.

Almost on a whim, she took up running in 2016.

She had cheered her husband on at long-distance running events but had never considered doing it herself, thinking it was only " for crazy people".

Buying a special prosthetic for long-distance runners, she signed up for her very first 10K (6. 2 mile) run.

On the eve of The Race , she switched her registration to the half-marathon category - and she has not looked back since, exploring longer distances and different terrains.

" I'm an all or nothing person, so I just threw myself in, " she explains. " I love pushing boundaries and seeing how far I can push. "

At The Beginning of the year, Jacky gave herself a new goal: the record for most consecutive marathons.

The Female Guinness record stood at 95 - Set two years go by Alyssa Amos Clark, a non-amputee runner from Vermont -

The male Guinness record is held by - although Spanish ultra-runner Ricardo Abad reportedly ran 607 consecutive marathons, finishing in 2012.

So Jacky - A Mother of two who works as an endurance Coach - started running with the record in mind, making sure she always ran at least the length of a marathon.

The Bbc is not responsible for the content of external sites.

She did the world-famous Boston Marathon in Massachusetts and The Lost Dutchman in Arizona, but marathons are not scheduled Every Day , so she also ran on local dirt paths, neighbourhood trails and even her own treadmill At Home .

And when British runner Kate Jayden broke Jacky kept going to beat her and " to round the month [of April] off" with one final marathon.

All told, she ran 2,734 miles. Guinness World Records told the AP news agency it would take around 12 to 15 weeks to review The Evidence and certify the record.

Documenting those runs on Social Media , Jacky has raised over $88,000 (£70,000) for Amputee Blade Runners, a non-profit organisation that provides running blades like hers to amputees.

The runs have been mostly a mental game, she says, but they have also taken a physical toll.

She has to wear liners and sweat socks with her blades, and needs to foam roll, stretch and ice her leg stump daily. Remarkably, she remained injury-free throughout the feat.

In fact, Jacky wishes she had started running earlier.

" Running has made such a difference on my mental state and it showed me how strong My Body can be. It gave me a total new acceptance of who I Am and that I can do hard things. "

And she is determined to Keep Going . Next up: the Moab, a gruelling 240-mile race in Utah this October .



Source of news: bbc.com

South Africa Photos

Related Persons

Next Profile ❯