South Africa Summary

Summary of South Africa

If you look out your window in South Africa, you will see truly amazing things. You can see whole, huge areas of grass, swamps, rivers, mountains, and plateaus. Most of South Africa sits on high plateaus. Parts of it reach more than 4,000 feet above the sea. An escarpment is the steep face at the edge of a plateau or other raised area. South Africa also has long, monstrous rivers. One river, called the Okavango, flows from Angola into a huge basin in Botswana. The river’s water never reaches the ocean. Africa also has different types of climates in each of its countries. The wettest place is Madagascar, while the driest is more to the western part of South Africa, close to the deserts. South Africa has many deserts, the most famous one being the Sahara. Another desert, called the Kalahari, takes up most of Botswana’s space. Although the desert gets enough rain in the North, it’s mostly just dry sand there. Old trails of ancient rivers have drained into low, flat areas, or pans. The minerals are left behind when the water evaporates from the pans. South Africa has so many resources. South Africa is full with huge forests that provide timber, while the region’s rivers supply the hydroelectricity and water for irrigation. Where it rains a lot, farmers can grow crops. But the region’s most valuable resources, however, are minerals. Mines in South Africa produce most of the World’s gold. In addition, South African, Botswana, and Namibia have productive diamond mines. Other mineral resources in South Africa are platinum, copper, uranium, coal, and iron ore.