Geo Quiz

South African provincial capital

We’re going to South Africa this time and KwaZulu-Natal is our starting point. This South African province borders 3 countries: Mozambique, Swaziland, and Lesotho.It also has a long shoreline along the Indian Ocean.

What we’re looking for is the provincial capital of KwaZulu-Natal. It’s not the largest city in the province. That would be Durban, which is 50 miles away. To get back and forth between these two cities, you can ride a bus or take a train. Along the way there are rolling fields of sugar cane, wildlife parks, and the spectacular Drakensberg mountains. But don’t get lost gazing out the window. We want you to name the capital of KwaZulu-Natal.

Just about everyone who uses the Internet complains at one time or another about how slow it can be. That’s especially true in Africa where Internet prices are high and service is notoriously slow and spotty. A financial services company in the South African province of KwaZulu Natal wanted to do something more than complain. So the company, called Unlimited, came up with a competition to illustrate its point.

It devised a race between the Internet – and a carrier pigeon! The challenge was to determine the quickest way to to send a large data file, four gigabytes in all. The data had to get from the the company’s offices near Pietermaritzburg to the city of Durban– 50 miles away. Pietermaritzburg, by the way, is the answer to our Geo Quiz today.

Pietermaritzburg town hall (photo: Tim Giddings)

South Africa’s giant Telecom company was the odds on favorite, it was using the country’s broadband internet system. And the challenger? A carrier pigeon named Winston. Winston had a four gigabite memory stick strapped to his leg. First one to get from Pietermaritzburg to Durban wins.

Kevin Rolfe works at Unlimited. He coordinated the race:

“When the chip was attached to Winton’s leg and taken outside for release the entire office was standing there cheering and egging Winston and his colleagues on. The release of it was quite spectacular, you had these birds flying off and at the same time as that was happening the transfer was in hand and heading up the line via the traditional ADSL”

You may have guessed it, but it turns out the winner was Winston! He flew straight to his target. The memory stick was removed from his leg, and the data downloaded. All in two hours, six minutes, and 57 seconds.

Meanwhile, the competitor, The Internet connection, never really got off the blocks. By the time Winston flew in, only four percent of the data was transmitted online.

Internet speeds in Africa are getting a lot of attention, and this race, though a bit of a publicity stunt created quite a buzz. South Africans are pressing for faster Internet connection speeds. Many hope that arrives by next summer when the country hosts the soccer World Cup.

If this latest race helps spur better Internet service, Winston the carrior pigeon, may become a national hero.