Africa's Physical Geography

Namib Desert

Kalahari Basin

Lake Victoria

Lake Nyasa

Congo River

Lake Chad

Nile River

Zambezi River

Ethiopian Highlands

African Rift Valley

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Congo River

• central Africa's principle river and the largest river in Africa
• capital cities of Brazzaville and Kinshasa rest on opposite banks of the river
• the closest two national capital cities in the world
• the Ebola River, a tributary of this river, was the location of the first major outbreak of what we now call the Ebola virus

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Nile River

• longest river in the world (and, obviously, the longest in Africa)
• historically of great importance to the Egyptian civilizations, and continues to be important to Egypt today
• almost all of the country's population lives along the river
• technically two rivers, with the two branches meeting near Khartoum

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Lake Chad

• relatively shallow lake whose name literally means "lake"
• since 1970s, lake has lost about 70 percent of its original size
• loss of the lake due to desertification, which also impacts the greater Sahel region

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Zambezi River

• southern Africa's principle river
• of the major rivers of Africa, it is the only one to flow into the Indian Ocean
• due to its topography, it is home to the spectacular Victoria Falls
• also home to Devil's Pool, an area on Victoria Falls where you can sit in the river and not go over the falls

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Kalahari Basin

• a transition zone between a desert and the central rain forests
• known for safaris, and is home to antelope and meerkats
• also the home of the San Bushmen, a group of people who are perhaps best known for their clicking language

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Namib Desert

• considered to be one of the oldest and driest deserts in the world
• desert is created by a cold ocean current called the Benguela Current
• home to some of the tallest sand dunes in the world

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Ethiopian Highlands

• location is held by some to be the birthplace of humans
• human adaption to the high elevation has led to some becoming proficient long-distance runners
• home to the Kingdom of Kaffa, and is likely the origin of the coffee bean (though, the drink of coffee likely was not invented here)

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Lake Victoria

• Africa's largest lake, though not a rift lake like other African Great Lakes
• major tourist destination, despite being populated with hippopotamuses
• one of the lightning capitals of the world, due to the lake's influence on forming thunderstorms in the region

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Lake Nyasa

• rift lake that exhibits tropical characteristics
• southern-most of the rift lakes
• sometimes referred to as Lake Malawi
• naming dispute rooted in a disagreement of the border between Malawi and Tanzania
• related to British and German colonial territories

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African Rift Valley

• created due to divergent plate movement when other landmasses pulled apart from Africa
• was once part of the Gondwana super-continent
• responsible for creating some of the major lakes and mountains of Africa
• home to Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest mountain