Tag Archives: South Africa

Busiest morgue

The Salt River Morgue, Cape Town, South Africa, handled more than 30,000 cadavers in 1998. Almost 4,000 of these dead bodies have untraceable identities and are often the victims of violent crime. All cadavers undergo an autopsy and the nameless corpses are buried in plots marked with numbers.

Deepest scuba dive (female)

Verna van Schaik (South Africa) dived to a depth of 221 m (725 ft) in the Boesmansgat cave in South Africa’s Northern Cape province on 25 October 2004. The dive lasted 5 hr 34 mins, of which only 12 minutes were spent descending.

Fastest bicycle journey Cairo to Cape

Robert Knol (Netherlands) cycled from Cairo, Egypt, to Cape Town, South Africa, in 70 days 3 hr 50 min from 24 January to 4 April 2011. The ride covered 11,198 km (6,958.1 miles) through Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Robert started his journey from the Dutch Embassy in Cairo, Egypt and completed it at the Dutch Consulate in Cape Town, South Africa. The trip was unsupported and unaided. The bike had to be repaired only once, in Zambia. Continue reading →

Fastest delivery of a cricket ball (male)

The highest electronically measured speed for a ball bowled by any bowler is 161.3 km/h (100.23 mph) by Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan) against England on 22 February 2003 in a World Cup match at Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa. Quote from World Cup communications director: “ICC has always said there is not enough uniformity in the various speed guns around the world for any one performance to be designated official”. However many believe this to have been the fastest ball bowled.

Fastest relay 1,000 miles by a team of 10

The record for the fastest 1,000 mile relay by a team of ten is 99 hr 3 min 27 sec. It was run by Willie Mtolo, Graham Meyer, Jan van Rooyen, Dimitri Grishine, Daniel Radebe, Pio Mpolokeng, Oliver Kandiero, Frans Moyo, Simon Mele and Philip Molefi (all South Africa) from Cape Town to Johannesburg, South Africa from 14-18 August 2002.

Fastest transoceanic return migration of a marine animal / Longest recorded journey of a shark

The record for the fastest time in which any known marine animal has been tracked completing a return migration across an entire ocean, is nine months and belongs to a great white shark that swam approximately 20,000 km (12,400 miles). On 7 November 2003, a team of researchers led by Dr Ramón Bonfil from the Wildlife Conservation Society (USA) electronically-tagged four sharks in South Africa, one of whom was nick-named Nicole (after the Australian actress and shark-lover, Nicole Kidman). In August 2004, Nicole was identified Continue reading →

First player to take a hat-trick with the first three balls of a One-Day International innings (male

The best bowling start to a match was made in a World Cup game by Chaminda Vaas (b. Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas, 27 January 1974) playing for Sri Lanka against Canada at Pietermaritzburg, South Africa on 15 February 2003. He took a hat trick with the first three balls of the game and then claimed a fourth victim in his opening over before finishing with six for 25. Sri Lanka went to win the match by ten wickets.