QUIZ
How Well Do You Know
Southern Africa?
From the Skeleton Coast to the Mozambique Channel, from the Okavango Delta to the Drakensberg, Southern Africa is one of the most extraordinary regions on Earth. Think you know it well? These questions might humble you.
No. I In 1938, a museum curator in East London made one of the most sensational zoological discoveries of the 20th century – a fish scientists believed had been extinct for 65 million years. What was it? A. The frilled shark B. C. D.
The megamouth shark The coelacanth The goblin shark
No. II The vast salt pans of Makgadikgadi in Botswana are the sunbleached remnants of what was once one of the largest inland lakes in the world – bigger than Switzerland. What happened to it? A. It drained into the Okavango Delta some 10 000 years ago B. C. D.
Tectonic shifts diverted its waters to form the Zambezi River It gradually evaporated as the African climate dried over millennia It was swallowed by a single catastrophic geological event around 2 000 years ago
No. III The Namib is widely regarded as the oldest desert on Earth. Approximately how old is it? A. 5 million years B. C. D.
25 million years 55 million years 200 million years
No. IV The Okavango River creates one of the world’ s most remarkable ecosystems as it fans out into Botswana’ s extraordinary inland delta. But in which country does the river actually originate? A. Zambia B. C. D.
Zimbabwe Namibia Angola
No. V Before Mozambique’ s independence in 1975, its capital city carried a different name entirely. What was it known as under Portuguese colonial rule? A. Porto Belo B. C. D.
Vila Pery Lourenço Marques Beira
No. VI The ghost town of Kolmanskop in Namibia was built during an early 20th-century diamond rush, complete with a hospital, ballroom, and bowling alley. In which decade was it finally abandoned, leaving the desert to slowly reclaim it? A. B. C. D.
1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
No. VII The Drakensberg takes its name from the Afrikaans for“ Dragon’ s Mountains.” But what does the Zulu name, uKhahlamba, translate to? A. B. C. D.
Spine of the Dragon Barrier of Spears Wall of Stone Place of Thunder
No. VIII South Africa’ s wine history stretches back further than most people realise. Which estate, established in 1685, is the oldest wine farm in continuous production in the country? A. B. C. D.
Boschendal Spier Vergelegen Groot Constantia
Check your answers: Scoring 8 – 10 correct: You’ re a true Southern African explorer. Passport stamped. 5 – 7 correct: Not bad – but there’ s clearly more of this magnificent region left to discover. 0 – 4 correct: Pack your bags. Clearly, you need to get out more.
Answers: I. c II. c III. c IV. d V. c VI. c VII. b VIII. d
96 | SPRING 2026 • rovesa. co. za