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One more myth to bust: The Indian and Atlantic oceans don't meet at Cape Point, they meet at Cape
Agulhas.
There's real snow at Tiffindell Ski Resort. And if there's not, they'll make some for you.
4. There's 'summer' skiing
Yes, there's downhill skiing in South Africa.
In fact, there's downhill skiing in two countries in southern Africa: South Africa and neighboring
Lesotho.
Tiffendell Ski Resort in South Africa's Eastern Cape Highlands and Afriski in Lesotho's Maluti
Mountains (both ranges are part of what's more widely known as the Drakensberg Mountains) offer
a relatively short season running between June and August, the Southern Hemisphere winter.
Runs aren't long -- about a kilometer in total at each resort -- but there's real snow and when there
isn't enough falling from the sky, both Afriski and Tiffendell have snow-making equipment.
More: Safari pioneer Geoffrey Kent's incredible African odyssey
5. One street, two Nobel Peace Prize winners
Vilakazi Street punches way above its weight.
Before the arrival of democracy in South Africa, Vilakazi Street looked like any other nondescript
dusty street full of matchbox houses in Soweto, near Johannesburg.
But for decades it has been different from its neighbors; it has been and remains a place of
pilgrimage as the only street in the world that has been home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela and former Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu
lived a few doors from each other on Vilakazi Street.
Upington Airport is also the final resting place for numerous commercial aircraft; the dry air helps
preserve them in case they're ever called into service again.
The Orange River, South Africa's largest, winds through the city, creating a greenbelt that only just
manages to keep the Kalahari Desert at bay.
More: 9 top South African spiritual retreats
7. Once you remove the quills, porcupine skin is delicious
Finding traditional dishes that originate in South Africa is a tall order (much of the cuisine is a
product of mixing cultures).
But C. Louis Leipoldt, a sort of Renaissance man from the early 20th century, made it one of his
lifelong pursuits.
The smallest villages in the Western Cape still try to whip up some of his more famous recipes when
the ingredients are available.
Porcupine crackling is one of them.
From his Cape Cookery book, Leipoldt's preparation instructions call for plunging the animal into
boiling water, scraping off the quills and hairs, scrubbing the skin until it's perfectly smooth and
white and then discarding the meat, which, he says, isn't very nice to eat.
Colonial disaster? Shocking.
8. It's the site of Britain's most shocking military defeat
In early 1879 the British army had state of the art equipment.
Commander-in-Chief Lord Chelmsford thought the barefoot, spear-wielding Zulu forces he was about
to attack in what is today the central part of KwaZulu-Natal province would be a walkover.
What he didn't count on was the technique used by the Zulu troops under King Cetshwayo.
In a formation representing the horns and chest of a buffalo, and using short, thrusting spears, the
Zulus overwhelmed the British; more than 1,300 of the 1,800 troops the British brought into battle
were dead at the end of the day.
The battle is re-enacted regularly and the site at Isandlwana is well maintained with
accommodations nearby.
9. SKA isn't music, it's a telescope
Ska is the roots of reggae music that began in Jamaica.
SKA is the Square Kilometer Array, a giant radio telescope being built in the Karoo, a large, semidesert that fills much of the southwestern part of the country.
The Karoo is located in one of the most remote corners of South Africa. The place is extremely quiet
and there's no artificial light nearby.
The SKA telescope will one day look into the universe and collect data 10,000 times faster than has
ever been done before.
Covering a square kilometer, the infrastructure won't be completed for another decade.
It's hoped that this multinational megaproject will help us understand where the universe has come
from as well as where it's going.
More: Zimbabwe proposes Disneyland in Africa
Stately and stoic -- baobabs are Africa's oldest and largest trees.
10. You can have a drink inside a tree
Africa's biggest and oldest trees, baobabs, are found in one of South Africa's driest regions, Limpopo
province.
Also known as cream of tartar trees, monkey-bread trees and upside-down trees, kids know them
from the "Madagascar" films.
The pulp from the tree contains citric and tartaric acids used as common baking ingredients.
The seeds can be roasted and turned into oil and the fruit is used to make a lemonade-type drink.
Limpopo province is home to a hauntingly beautiful forest of the trees near the border of Zimbabwe.
The tree that locals claim is the largest baobab in the world is in nearby Modjadjiskloof.
Standing at 22 meters high and 47 meters in diameter, the center is hollow and has been turned into
a bar.
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown
North America/Latin America
Premiere episodes: Sundays, 9 p.m. ET
Replays: Saturdays, 9 p.m. ET
Asia/South Asia
Premiere episodes: Mondays, 9 a.m. HKT
Replays: Fridays,10 p.m. HKT; Sundays, 9 a.m. HKT
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/17/travel/10-things-south-africa/