Elevation of Johannesburg - big surprise!

[Albert GRANT]

I guess being in Southern Africa I just never gave it much thought, but I recently came across the info that it sits at 5751ft. That's 471ft higher than Denver! Never noticed any issues while I was there, then again I didn't have any issues at 14k ft in Rocky mountain national park either. Just surprising as I never considered the fact it would be anywhere near that high!

 

[BRICKBURN]

Funny what you stumble on.

 

[GuttormG]

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Windhoek the capital of Namibia which is located pretty much in the centre of the country lies at an elevation of 5,428 feet (1,654 meters).

Denver sits at an altitude of 5,280 feet (1,609 meters), one mile high above sea level.

 

[Albert GRANT]

Windhoek the capital of Namibia which is located pretty much in the centre of the country lies at an elevation of 5,428 feet (1,654 meters).

Denver sits at an altitude of 5,280 feet (1,609 meters), one mile high above sea level.

Didn't know that either, thanks! Surprising how high some of these places are!

 

[grand veneur]

Many cities east and southeast Africa lies at a high elevation , also Harare or Nairobi. The tallest big city in Africa seems to be Addis Ababa with an mean elevation of 7726 ft but rises to over 9800 ft.

 

[Wheels]

If you look where the British settled in Africa, you will find that most of the communities are over 4,000', with the majority of those being over 5,000'. This gave the settlers a temperate home in the tropics.

I am not sure if this applies to all the European colonies, but it did to many where altitude was an option.

 

[Bushpig4Ever]

During winter one will always find snow in the Western Cape. Where we were living till some years ago, the two mountains are 1,900 and 2,100 high. Snow from June to October.

There is even a ski club!

 

[spike.t]

We bit lower...... Lusaka is 1279 metres up..4196 ft....the lowest part is luangwa town ..used to be feira.... Situated on the confluence of the luangwa and Zambezi rivers which is 380 metres bout 1250 ft
Highest is mafinga hills on the border to Malawi which are 2339 metres bout 7674 ft

 

[wesheltonj]

Most folks don't have problems until you reach over 8000 feet.

 

[postoak]

Jerome, what is the altitude of Ozondjahe?

 

[grand veneur]

If you look where the British settled in Africa, you will find that most of the communities are over 4,000', with the majority of those being over 5,000'. This gave the settlers a temperate home in the tropics.

I am not sure if this applies to all the European colonies, but it did to many where altitude was an option.

None of that is so certain. Above all , economic factors also played a role. For the settlers agriculture and farming , and for the retailers the good location for connection routes. The well-being of humans only came afterwards.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Jerome, what is the altitude of Ozondjahe?

5,200 feet (1,585 meters)

 

[Albert GRANT]

While I certainly knew there were many areas of the African continent with very high altitude and even large mountains, I guess I just never realized how many cities there are at higher altitudes there.

 

[Wheels]

None of that is so certain. Above all , economic factors also played a role. For the settlers agriculture and farming , and for the retailers the good location for connection routes. The well-being of humans only came afterwards.

Economic factors certainly played the key part. Mining instigated population centers like Kimberly, Johannesburg, Ndola, Elizabethville, Mbeya. Good agricultural land instigated the settlement of areas like the white highlands of Kenya, the eastern highlands/midlands of Rhodesia, the northern and southern highlands of Tanzania.

Long term, what brought more Europeans and kept them. Economic opportunity, but also the climate. ie: There is better rain in coastal Kenya for farming yet whites did not congregate there in numbers like they did in the highlands.

My initial post was not trying dispute economic factors. I was assuming economic factors as self evident. I was just saying to look for the white population centers of British colonial Africa. Most tend to be at altitude.

 

[tedthorn]

Most folks don't have much problems at altitude until they have climb or cary a load

 

[Mekaniks]

You wouldn't believe how many people getting off a cruise ship in Alaska, standing on the dock, have asked me "what is the altitude here"?......

Another interesting altitude fact is the geographic South Pole is at 9300 ft.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole

 

[spike.t]

You wouldn't believe how many people getting off a cruise ship in Alaska, standing on the dock, have asked me "what is the altitude here"?......

Another interesting altitude fact is the geographic South Pole is at 9300 ft.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole

Yeah but the altitude must be pretty high when you get that far up .....................fkn tequila....

 

[Nkawu]

Anyone else had a drink at the highest pub in Africa? It’s at the top of the Sani Pass into Lesotho (2873m/9429ft).

 

[Hearties]

Anyone else had a drink at the highest pub in Africa? It’s at the top of the Sani Pass into Lesotho (2873m/9429ft).

Yep - many times (although not for a few years now). Fantastic views!