SOUTHAFRICA

Blyde river canyon

The Blyde River Canyon is a significant natural feature
of South Africa, located in Mpumalanga, and forming the
northern part of the Drakensberg escarpment. It is 16 miles
(26 kilometers) in length and is, on average, around 2500
feet (800m) deep. The Dam itself, when full, is at an altitude
of 665m (2182 feet). The Canyon consists mostly of
red sandstone. The highest point of the canyon,
Mariepskop, is 6378 feet above sea level (1944m) whilst its
lowest point where the river leaves the canyon is slightly
less than 1840 feet (+- 560m) above sea level. This means
that by some measure the Canyon is over 4500 feet (about
1400m) deep.
By some measures it is the third largest canyon in the
world, after the Grand Canyon in the United States and
the Fish River Canyon in Namibia but this depends heavily
on one's definition of a canyon (see canyon.) By any
definition it is one of the largest canyons on earth,
unquestionably being the largest 'green canyon' due to its
lush subtropical foliage, and it has some of the deepest
precipitious cliffs of any canyon on the planet. It is the
second largest canyon in Africa, after the Fish River
Canyon, and is known as one of the great wonders of
nature on the continent.
The weeping face of nature
At 200 metres (660 ft), the Kadishi Tufa waterfall is the
second tallest tufa waterfall on earth. A tufa waterfall is
formed when water running over dolomite rock absorbs
calcium, and deposits rock formations more rapidly than
they erode the surrounding rock. In the case of the
Kadishi Tufa fall, the formation that has been produced
strikingly resembles a face which is crying profusely, and is
thus sometimes known as 'the weeping face of nature'.

Soccer city stadium

The Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg has undergone
a major upgrade for the 2010 tournament, with a new
design inspired by traditional African pottery.
The Populous sports facilities group came up with the
design. The upper tier has been extended around the
stadium to increase the capacity to 94,700 [6] with an extra
99 Executive suites, an encircling roof has been
constructed, new changing room facilities have been
developed and new floodlights have been installed. The
number of suites in this stadium has been increased to 195.
The R1.5 billion [5] tender to upgrade the stadium was won
by Grinaker-LTA.[7] The construction was completed on
Wednesday, 21 October 2009. The completion was marked
by a huge celebration at the stadium.[6]
The outside of the stadium is designed to have the
appearance of a calabash, an African pot, the cladding on
the outside is a mosaic of fire and earthen colours with a
ring of lights running around the bottom of the structure,
simulating fire underneath the pot. No spectator will be
more than 100 metres (330 ft) from the action and there are
no restricted views in the stadium.[8]
The stands in Soccer City are articulated by ten black
vertical lines; nine are aligned geographically with the nine
other stadia involved in the 2010 World Cup, and a tenth
line is aimed at Berlin's Olympic Stadium, which hosted the
previous World Cup final in 2006. This represents the road
to the final and it is hoped that after the World Cup, each
goal scored at the stadium will be placed in pre-cast
concrete panels on a podium so that the full history of the
tournament’s scores can be seen for years to come.[9]