There are numerous reasons to consider taking an African tour this holiday season. Her rich resources, beauty and vast lands, culture and beautiful people, food and animals are all reasons. Africa also has the beauty for movie locations and Instagram photo shoots.
Africa’s wonder monuments are listed below for your viewing pleasure this holiday.
1. Senegal’s African Renaissance Monument (161 feet)
The tallest statue in Africa is located on top of one of the twin hills known as Collines des Mamelles just outside Dakar, Senegal. The statue was designed by Senegalese architect Pierre Goudiaby after an idea presented by President Abdoulaye Wade and built by North Korean company Mansudae Overseas Projects.
2. Giza’s Great Sphinx, Egypt (66 feet)
The Great Sphinx of Giza is Africa’s second tallest statue; it is a massive stone sculpture of a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human. It is still the largest structure made of a single piece of stone. It is the world’s greatest monumental sculpture, carved out of a single ridge of limestone 240 feet (73 metres) long and 66 feet (20 metres) high.
Egypt’s Colossi of Memnon (60 feet)
The Colossi of Memnon are two enormous stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who ruled Egypt during Dynasty XVIII (18th Dynasty). Each statue is about 18 metres tall (the third tallest in Africa) and is modelled after Amenhotep III himself. They’re on the West Bank, just across the Nile from Thebes.
4. Nigeria’s Moremi Liberty Statue (42 feet)
The tallest statue in Nigeria, standing at 42 feet, is located in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. It is also the fourth tallest statue in Africa. The statue was built by a team of about 200 Nigerian youths using materials sourced locally from Nigeria’s 774 local government areas.
The Ramesses II statue in Egypt (36 feet)
The black granite statue depicts Ramesses II, the third pharaoh of Egypt’s Nineteenth Dynasty. The statue, which was damaged in a fourth-century earthquake, was fully restored this year for the first time since it was discovered in 58 pieces in 1958-60 by an archaeological team led by Mohamed Abdel-Qader.
South African Nelson Mandela Statue (29 feet)
The Mandela statue at the Union Buildings, Pretoria’s government headquarters, is the tallest one yet. The sculpture is made of bronze and weighs 3.5 tonnes. South African sculptors Andre Prinsloo and Ruhan Janse van Vuuren created the statue, which was unveiled at the Union Buildings on December 16, 2013, the Day of Reconciliation.
7. Nigeria’s “Jesus the Greatest” (28 feet)
The “Jesus de Greatest” statue is the tallest in Africa, standing at 28 feet. It is housed in St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Imo State’s Abajah local government area. A Chinese company commissioned the magnificent sculpture in white marble in 2014 and completed it in 2016.
Culture Beyond the Mainstream 