As the lowest-ranked team at the Rugby World Cup, Namibia were always going to find it difficult.
But there has been no shortage of heart from the African side, and it turns out the country has quite a history...
1. At over 700 million years old, The ‘Namib’ is the oldest desert in the world. That means that in Telegramspeak, the Namib would have had 7m letters from the Queen.
2. There hasn’t been surface water in the Namib for 55m years, that means in Telegramsp… just kidding.
3. Namibia is a popular place to shoot desert movies. “Mad Max: Fury Road” being the most recent.
4. The ‘Welwitschias’ suffered the largest defeat of any team in a World Cup match when losing by 142 points to Australia in 2003. Ouch.
5. With between 2,000 and 3,000, it is estimated there are more cheetahs in Namibia than in any other country on Earth. To give some perspective, Kenya has under 1,000. South African legend Bryan Habana raced a cheetah once. The results were inconclusive.
6. The All Blacks might have their Haka, but I bet the sand dunes in New Zealand don’t roar. The dunes in Namibia are so vast that air trapped between the millions of grains of sand creates a rumble that can sound like an aeroplane passing overhead.
7. The Hoba meteorite, close to Grootfontein, is the largest meteorite in the world. The main mass is estimated at more than 60 tonnes.
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