- According to recent studies, the star-watching town of Sutherland in the Northern Cape is one of the most geologically stable places on Earth, yet it has a 66-million year old volcano, not yet officially extinct.
- Lake Fundudzi in Venda is possibly the world's only inland freshwater lake formed by a landslide.
- In April 2004 the respected science magazine Nature reported that there is a large magnetic patch under South Africa that is pointing in the opposite direction from the rest of the Earth's magnetic field…… Scientists say this might indicate the poles are starting to flip, as they do every few million years.
- South Africa has the oldest meteor scar in the world, just across the Vaal River near Parys, called the Vredefort Dome. The meteor plummeted to Earth nearly two billion years ago (Earth is said to be 4,5 billion years old), predating the heady days of oxygen and multi-celled life.
- The rocks around Barberton in Mpumalanga are some of the most ancient in the world - over three billion years old. Because they are also the most accessible such formations, NASA scientists come here to gain an idea of how life might form on distant planets.
- There are only 12 countries in the world that supply tap water that is fit to drink, and South Africa is one of them. Our tap water quality is about third best overall in the world.
- The Tugela Falls is the second highest waterfall in the world, where the water tumbles down 850 metres.
- The Kalahari, which sprawls over South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, is the world's largest mantle of sand.
- The Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park, one of South Africa’s UNESCO World Heritage sites, is a mountain wilderness boasting the highest mountain range in South Africa.
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