In our previous installment of this series, we explored countries whose former president sold a $15 million presidential jet to help a struggling economy, was home to the richest man ever, has the world’s largest underwater lake, home to the ‘Golden Voice of Africa,’ and many other fast facts. Do you remember which countries they were? Check out our previous blog.

Now it’s time for number seven.

Guinea-Bissau

Not to be mistaken with Guinea, Guinea-Bissau is a Portuguese speaking West African nation which neighbors the former.

The nation, which was once under the influence of the Malian empire, has a population of just over 2 million and is named after its capital city, Bissau. As per the sixth edition of the Tobacco Atlas, Guinea Bissau is the least smoking country in the world after Brunei. Its people smoke an estimated 25.28 cigarettes per capita.

For six months in a calendar year, up to 30,000 green turtles return to Guinea Bissau’s island of Poilão to lay eggs, making it the most important green turtle nesting in Africa and the third in the world.

Accidental poisoning nearly drove the endangered hooded vultures to extinction when close to 1,000 of them died in the lusophone country.

São Tomé and Príncipe

Also referred to as STP for short, the island nation is found off the west coast and made up of two major islands, São Tomé and Príncipe. 

After Seychelles, it’s the smallest country on the continent, both in size and population. STP’s national symbol is a palm tree and has a distinct landmark in the form of a 663m high pinnacle of rock named Cão Grande or Great Canine (dog).

Over the course of history, STP has relied on exports of cocoa beans but recently added gas turbines, aircraft parts, iron springs and fasteners to the mix.

Burundi

The East African nation officially has two capital cities. Bujumbura has been the long-standing capital but the government added Gitega as the political capital in 2019. Borders of Burundi were famously drawn up by the Burundian monarchy as opposed to Europeans who did so for most Sub-Saharan African countries.

With a population of over 12 million, Burundi is one of the least obese countries in the world. Just like several other East African countries, Burundi is also famous for brewing banana beer.

The world’s longest freshwater lake, second-deepest and second-largest by volume, Lake Tanganyika is partly in Burundi and three other countries.

Gabon

Gabon, whose 81% of land area is covered by forests, is located on the west coast of Central Africa.

Early explorers thought the estuary of the Komo River was shaped like a cloak, ‘gabao’ in Portuguese from which the country’s name comes from. Just like Sierra Leone’s capital, Libreville also means freetown in reference to freed slaves who settled in the city in 1849.

The Loango National Park in Gabon is known as ‘Africa’s Last Eden,’ and Lopé National Park is home to the biggest troupes of mandrill in the world, around 1,800 of them. Gabon also has the world’s largest species of sea turtles and the leatherback which can weigh as much as 900 kg.

Djibouti

Part of the horn of Africa region, Djibouti has a population of just over 1 million and borders Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The capital, Djibouti City, is built on coral reefs and accounts for 76% of the country’s total population.

The second saltiest body of water in the world after Don Juan Pond in Antarctica, Lake Assal (Lac Assal) which is 10 times saltier than the sea is found in the country. At 155m below sea level, the Lake is the third- lowest point in the world after the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee.

Cabo Verde

Also known by its English translation, Cape Verde, the central Atlantic Ocean island nation officially switched to the Portuguese version, Cabo Verde in 2013.

After Mauritius, it’s earmarked as the second-most democratic country in Africa and has an ambitious goal of being fully powered by renewable energy by 2025.

On its ten volcanic islands, the highest peak is the active volcano Pico do Fogo, where farmers still grow coffee and other crops on its slopes, despite the apparent risk. Cabo Verde’s sole indigenous mammal is the long-eared bat and is also the world’s third-largest nesting site for loggerhead turtles.

The turtles are believed to be at least a third of the population size of the entire nation.

Sierra Leone

The town’s most famous landmark was the giant Cotton Tree whose historical significance included offering shade to impoverished black settlers. When the tree fell it's believed to have been about hundreds of years old.

In 1827, Sierra Leone became home to modern Sub-Saharan Africa’s first institution of higher learning after the collapse of Mali’s Timbuktu. The nation of now over 8 million people is also a subject and the site of the 2006 political thriller, Blood Diamonds. These diamonds were used to fund several conflicts across Africa before the set-up of the Kimberley Process. 

On to the final one

Number seven is a charm they say, but we still have got one more episode to go in this series. Can you guess the remaining five countries to round up our look into the fast facts of the 54 African countries?