Physical Geography of Africa Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lake M'Bakaou

The African "Great Lakes" are a series of seven lakes situated in the area of the Great African Rift Valley. All seven of them are as follows: Lake Malawi, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Kivu, Lake Edward, Lake Albert, Lake Kyoga, and Lake Victoria. Lake M'Bakaou is indeed a lake in Africa, but is not considered one of the African "Great Lakes", as it is located on the western side of the continent in Cameroon.

Answer: Mitumba Mountains

The Ahaggar, Air Massif, and Tibesti mountain ranges are all situated near the middle of the Sahara Desert. The Mitumba Mountains, however, lie along the Western Rift Valley near the small country of Burundi; these mountains have two primary peaks, Mount Kahuzi and Mount Biega, which are extinct volcanoes.

Answer: Humid Desert

There are six official climate types of Africa: Equatorial, Humid Tropical, Tropical Wet and Dry, Tropical Steppe, Desert, and Mediterranean. The Humid Desert climate type does not exist. If Mediterranean threw you off, there is actually very small areas at the very northern and southern parts of Africa that are classified as having a Mediterranean climate type.

Answer: Equatorial

The Equatorial climate region in Africa is not affected much at all by seasonal shifts of the ITCZ, because even when it shifts it is still situated over most of the Equatorial regions, meaning it rains consistently there all year. All of the other climate regions, except for 'desert', are affected much more by the ITCZ shifts.

For example, in January the ITCZ is more in the southern hemisphere, so the southern countries get more rain then the northern ones at this time. In July, it is just the opposite.

Answer: Benguela Current

The Canaries current affects the Northwestern Atlantic Coast of Africa. The Guinea Current affects the area around the Gulf of Guinea. Lastly, the Madagascar current is on the opposite side of the continent and flows between Madagascar and continental Africa.

Answer: Kalahari Basin

The Sudan, Chad, and El Djouf Basins are all located in Northern Africa within the vicinity of the Sahara Desert. The Chad Desert, as the name suggests, is primarily located in Chad. The Sudan Basin is located mostly in Sudan. And the El Djouf Basin, also known as the Niger Basin, is located across several countries in Western Africa.

Answer: Lake Nyasa

Lake Nasser, Volta, and Kariba are all African man-made lakes. Lake Nasser is a result of the building of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River in Egypt, but continues into Sudan, where they call it Lake Nubia. Lake Volta is, by surface area, the largest reservoir in the world.

It was created by the construction of the Akosombo Dam, and is located completely in Ghana. Lake Kariba is on the Zambezi river along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and was created as a result of the building of the Kariba Dam. Lake Nyasa is just another name for Lake Malawi, which, if you remember, is one of the African "Great Lakes".

Answer: Alluvial Soil

Even though African soil is not quite as good as the soil that can be found in Europe or North America, there are still areas in Africa that can be quite productive. The alluvial soils are among the most fertile soils in Africa, and can be found in basins and along rivers.

There are also pockets of non-alluvial soils that are fertile as well, and can be found, varying in distribution, on plateaus and highlands.

Answer: Leeward Slopes

These dry spots on the Leeward Slopes of mountains are also referred to as the "rain shadow". The Windward Slopes are the sides that get most of the moisture because they are facing the ocean. The other two I made up.

Answer: Democratic Republic of the Congo

These countries, listed by size, are as follows:


1. Algeria: 2,381,741 sq. km
2. D.R. Congo: 2,344,858 sq. km
3. Sudan: 1,886,068 sq. km
4. Libya: 1,759,540 sq. km

As of July 9th, 2011, Sudan became the third largest African country due to the independence of South Sudan.