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Africa Question

To: David Siems <>
Subject: Africa Question
From: (Andrew Taylor)
Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2003 09:44:12 +1000
On Sat, Apr 05, 2003 at 07:24:51AM +1000, David Siems wrote:
>    episode 4, "coasts", the narrator Fergal Keane states "Africa is an
>    island". After doing some research, questions for the experts please?
>  Question (1) Is this statement true?
>  (2) If so, is it due to the building of
>  the Suez Canal, joining the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea?
> (3) Is the Sinai part of Africa or the Middle East?

When I visited the Ras  Mohamed at the Sinai's tip - I was told it
was where Africa & Eurasia met.  Brillant scuba diving but few birds.
I did get to snorkel among feeding Lesser Crested terns.  Very cute as
you couldn't see the (flying) birds from underwater but sporadically a
tern bill and two tern feet would appear below the surface stabbing at
a small fish.

I believe geologically the Sinai is on a subplate between African
and Arabian plates so geologically the answer to your question 3 is
"neither" .  And I don't reckon African is an island.

Andrew Taylor

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