Africa Facts

About 25% of Africa remains wilderness, compared to roughly 27% of North America—making them surprisingly similar despite very different development histories.

Niger (Africa) has the world's highest fertility rate - 7.1 children per mother.

More than 30 African nations have more cell phones than land lines.

More than half the population of Kenya is under the age of 15.

Senegalese women spend an average of 17.5 hours a week just collecting water.

The Giant South African Earthworm can grow up to 22 feet long and 1 inch in thick.

Somalia boasts the highest percentage growth of Internet users in the world going from a mere 200 in 2000 to 90,000 in 2007

A male baboon can kill a leopard.

In 2005, a 12-year-old Ethiopian girl was kidnapped by seven men trying to force her into marriage. When police found her a week later, three lions were standing guard around her. The kidnappers were gone. The lions turned and walked back into the forest as the humans approached.

A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside!

The first foreigner to become a samurai was an African slave.

The ancestor of all domestic cats is the African wild cat, which still exists today.

Some farmers in Kenya are using elephants' natural fear of bees and building "beehive fences" that keep wild elephants from trampling the crops. It keeps the farms safe, and prevents farmers from having to kill elephants to defend their livelihood!

The world’s largest frog, the Goliath frog, can grow over 13 inches in length and can jump up to 10 feet in a single bound.

More people in Africa speak French than in France itself.

In 1324, Mansa Musa — ruler of the Mali Empire — made a pilgrimage to Mecca with a caravan of 60,000 men and thousands of pounds of gold. When he stopped in Cairo, he gave away so much gold that he crashed the local economy. The price of gold didn't recover for twelve years. He is widely considered the wealthiest person who ever lived.

An elephant spent 12 hours submerged in a 45-foot well near Tsavo, Kenya - breathing only through his trunk like a snorkel. The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust pumped out 150,000 liters of water, drove a crane from Mombasa overnight, and lowered a vet into the pit to sedate and lift him out. 22 hours later, he walked into the bush on his own.