Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Africa, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Africa and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Africa
- Astronomy & Satellites ...
- Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
- To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Africa:
- 34.063999, -90.651488
- Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Africa
- Bird Watching ...
- We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
- The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Coahoma County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Coahoma County
- Since Africa is near Bolivar County and also Sunflower County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Bolivar County
- eBird sighting report for Sunflower County
- Waymarking ...
- Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Africa ...
We found eight communities that share the name Africa.
Within Mississippi, the name Africa is unique.
Beyond Mississippi, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.
In addition to the above occurrences of Africa, we know of four communities located outside of the United States and Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Indiana
- Missouri
- Saint Charles County
- Although located in Saint Charles County, we don't know the location within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Charles County community of Africa.
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Communities Beyond North America ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Africa ...
As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.
- Alligator
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alligator
- Alligator is located in Bolivar County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 182 people
- Beverly
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north) - Bobo
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north) - Counts
(5 miles [8 km] to the east) - Dublin
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dublin
- Dublin is located in Coahoma County
- Green Grove
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Grove
- Green Grove is located in Coahoma County
- Hillhouse
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest) - Roundaway
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roundaway
- Roundaway is located in Coahoma County
- Walnut Grove
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Walnut Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove
- Walnut Grove is located in Coahoma County
How Far From Africa to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Africa to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Africa once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Africa and extending to:
- Clarksdale, which is the Seat of Coahoma County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Africa to Clarksdale, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 124 miles [199.6 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 825 miles [1,327.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 47 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,681 miles [10,752 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,403 miles [11,914 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,278 miles [8,494.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Mississippi: https://www.ms.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Africa) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Africa. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.0640, Longitude: -90.6515 In this case, the coordinates for Africa have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Africa, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that Africa could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day. |
| <6> | The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Africa to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.088 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.155 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.785 degrees. |