cape town

Geraldine DeRuiter was in Italy when she got the text message from her coworker: “We’re all out of a job.” It was 2008, and the toy company where she worked as a copywriter had been acquired by a larger company. At that time, DeRuiter’s husband was traveling a lot for work, and he suggested that DeRuiter tag along on his trips. She did, and one day a friend suggested that she document her experiences.

An estimated three thousand ships have met their doom off the unforgiving South African Coast—that’s one destroyed craft and crew for every kilometer of coastline. Beginning in the early fifteenth century, around the time when Vasco de Gama and Columbus were sailing toward the New World, the seas of South Africa began swallowing European sailors whole. Generations of fearful crewmen nicknamed the area the Cape of Storms.

South Africa is a country that lives, breathes, and exudes uniqueness. In some ways it stands out as an oddity among other countries of the world because some things about it are unique in a way that we never even thought to think about. Since it is impossible to entirely capture the essence of a country in a lifetime, let alone in a few short words, here are some odd numbers that have special significance and that showcase a few of South Africa’s unique features—seven colors, five languages, three capital cities, one nation.