Seven Wonders of Africa

Normally, when referring to Africa I think this is a poor continent besides the heat is always tough. But with 7 landmarks of the world, I think that the gradual change.

 1. The Nile River 

The Nile River effectively begins as three rivers... the White Nile flows through Uganda, Sudan and Egypt, while the Blue Nile starts in Lake Tana, Ethiopia, and then flows through Zaire, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. The Atbara River flows from the Ethiopian highlands and meets the combined White Nile and Blue Nile just north of Khartoum. Before the Nile enters the Mediterranean Sea, it divides into four smaller tributaries in Egypt's northern delta region. The Nile River discharges an average 3.1 million litres (680,000 gallons) of water per second into the Mediterranean. Egypt and the Nile are a cradle of mankind. Despite these worsening consequences of human intervention, the Nile River Valley remains home to various wildlife including crocodiles, hippopotamuses, more than 300 species of birds and numerous fish species.

2. Kilimanjaro volcano

Massive Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, consists of three large stratovolcanoes constructed along a NW-SE trend. The ice-capped, 5895-m-high summit towers 5200 m above the surrounding plains. The older cone of Shira forms the broad WNW shoulder of Kilimanjaro, and the extensively dissected Mawenzi forms a prominent, sharp-topped peak on the ESE flank. Numerous satellitic cones occupy a rift zone to the NW and SE of Kibo, the central stratovolcano. A 2.4 x 3.6 km caldera gives the summit of Kibo an elongated, broad profile. Most of Kilimanjaro was constructed during the Pleistocene, but a group of youthful-looking nested summit craters are of apparent Holocene age.

3. The Great Rift Valley

The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi) in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in East Africa. The name continues in some usages, although it is today considered geologically imprecise as it combines features that are today regarded as separate, although related, rift and fault systems. Today, the term is most often used to refer to the valley of the East African Rift, the divergent plate boundary which extends from the Afar Triple Junction (see Afar Depression) southward across eastern Africa, and is in the process of splitting the African Plate into two new separate plates. Geologists generally refer to these incipient plates as the Nubian Plate and the Somali Plate.

4. Serengeti 

The Serengeti ecosystem is a geographical region located in north-western Tanzania and extends to south-western Kenya between latitudes 1 and 3 S and longitudes 34 and 36 E. It spans some 30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi). The Serengeti hosts the largest migration in the world, which is one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world. The region contains several national parks and game reserves. Serengeti is derived from the Maasai language, Maa; specifically, "Serengit" meaning "Endless Plains" 

Approximately 70 larger mammal and some 500 avifauna species are found there. This high diversity in terms of species is a function of diverse habitats ranging from riverine forests, swamps, kopjes, grasslands and woodlands. Blue Wildebeests, gazelles, zebras and buffalos are some of the commonly found large mammals in the region.
Currently there is controversy surrounding a proposed road that is to be built through the Serengeti in Tanzania.

5. Sahara desert

The Sahara is the largest desert in the world and occupies approximately 10 percent of the African Continent. The ecoregion includes the hyper-arid central portion of the Sahara where rainfall is minimal and sporadic. Although species richness and endemism are low, some highly adapted species do survive with notable adaptations. Only a few thousand years ago the Sahara was significantly wetter, and a large mammal fauna resided in this area. Climatic desiccation over the past 5000 years, and intense human hunting over the past 100 years, has obliterated these faunas. Now only rock, sand and sparse vegetation exist over huge areas. The remnant large mammal fauna is highly threatened by over-hunting.

6. Victoria lake

Lake Victoria, the largest of all African Lakes, is also the second widest freshwater body in the world. Its extensive surface belongs to the three countries; the northern half to Uganda, the southern half to Tanzania, and part of the northeastern sector to Kenya. The lake occupies a wide depression near the equator, between the East and West Great Rift Valleys.
The lake shore is highly indented, and there are many isles in the lake, some of which, especially the Sesse Group, are known for their beautiful landscape, health resorts and sightseeing places. Abundant prehistoric remains found around the lake indicate the early development of agriculture. There are a number of coastal towns such as Kisumu (Kenya), Entebe (Uganda), Bukoba, Muwanza and Musoma (Tanzania), connected with each other by ship routes and also to the cities of the Indian Ocean coast by railways. The dam constructed in 1954 at Owen Falls on the Victoria Nile supplies electricity and water for various uses in Uganda and Kenya.

7. Table Mountain 

You can't really miss it. Its 1 086 m above sea level at its highest point, and is visible from 200km out at sea. The top part of the mountain is made up of rocks that were deposited by an ancient glacier hundreds of millions of years ago. From Table Mountain a 50-km range reaches southward to Cape Point, forming the backbone of the Cape Peninsula. This Mountain chain is botanist's paradise, with roughly 2 250 plant species, some of which are found nowhere else in the world. There is even a patch of land, about the size of the soccer field and known only to a handful of lepidopterists, on which the world's only colony of certain species of butterfly exists.

Posted in: Africa, Great Rift Valley, Kilimanjaro, places, Sahara, Serengeti, Table Mountain, Victoria