From ‘Flashpacking through Africa. Travefs through 17 African Nations’ by Jason Smart

Interesting fact: The Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa.

Interesting fact: Apart from a section of coastline, Senegal totally surrounds The Gambia.

Interesting fact: Swaziland has the lowest life expectancy in the world at only 31.2 years.

Every day in South Africa, fifty people were murdered. In the UK, it was fewer than two. And the UK has ten million more inhabitants.

…..one of the smallest nations in Africa, Swaziland is about the same size as Wales.

Swaziland is one of three remaining monarchies in Africa (the other two being Lesotho and Morocco)….

Interesting fact: Lesotho is the only country in the world that lies entirely above 1000 metres.

….Lesotho has ended up as one of the most literate nations in Africa.

Interesting fact: the world’s biggest tortoise lives in the Seychelles.

The Seychelles was without doubt the most beautiful place Angela and I had ever visited. ….one seventh of the prison population in the Seychelles is made up of convicted pirates.

Interesting fact: Pharaoh Pepi II coated his slaves in honey to attract flies away from himself.

Cairo had, without any doubt, the worst traffic in the world. There was no order to the madness, and the only rule seemed to be: he who beeps loudest is the winner. ….we had located our hotel….Little did we realize that the route would be filled with Leer People.

Leer People were men aged thirteen and upwards. They loitered outside shops, or stood against walls. ….on passing buses…in the back of taxis ….they all had one thing in common, they leered.

Some men looked at Angela with such lustful leers that it became quite scary. Groups of teenage boys would leer at her with undisguised glee, looking her up and down with lascivious grins. And in the traffic jam spanning the bridge over the Nile, virtually every man leered with obvious interest.

Interesting fact: Ethiopia is the only African country with its own alphabet.

….Addis Ababa was located at an altitude of about 7500 ft, making it the fourth-highest capital city in the world.

….. “Why don’t men carry wood?” asked Angela.

Gabriel smiled. “In Ethiopia, carrying these bundles is seen as women’s work. Even if a man has no job, he will not carry the wood. He would rather sit on his porch all day and do nothing.”

Interesting fact: The shortest war in history was between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar. It took 38 minutes for the Sultan of Zanzibar to surrender.

….hippos killed more people than any other form of wildlife in Africa…..

Interesting fact: Rwanda is also known as the Land of a Thousand Hills.

……plastic bags were banned in Rwanda….

Interesting fact: Almost half the population of the Comoros is under 15.

….Since independence from France in 1975, the Comoros had endured a stupefying twenty-four coups….. The Comoros is a matriarchal society …..what would happen if a family had no daughters……… “In that case, the family will normally adopt a girl, perhaps from a sister or cousin.”

Africa is enormous.

The world’s second largest continent covers an area of over thirty million square kilometres, which is three times larger than Europe and four times bigger than Australia.

…..Egypt is the most visited country in Africa, closely followed by Morocco and then South Africa.