50 free Namibia trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Namibia takes its name from the oldest desert on Earth and is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, yet it packs in some of the continent's greatest sights: the red dunes of Sossusvlei, the salt pan of Etosha, the shipwrecks of the Skeleton Coast and Africa's largest canyon. This quiz covers the geography (the Namib and Kalahari, the Caprivi Strip, Königstein, the Orange River, the fog that keeps the desert alive) and the wildlife, from black rhinos and desert-adapted plants that live 2,000 years to Cape Cross's seals. History runs from the San and Nama through the German colony of 1884, the Herero and Nama genocide, South Africa's League of Nations mandate and apartheid, SWAPO's long war, independence on 21 March 1990 under Sam Nujoma and the return of Walvis Bay in 1994. Modern questions cover the 14 regions, English as sole official language despite few native speakers, Oshiwambo, Lutheranism, diamonds and uranium, the flag's twelve-rayed sun, Frankie Fredericks's four Olympic silvers, the rugby team's World Cups and the country's first female president in 2024. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Namibia, the Namib, Sossusvlei, Etosha, the Fish River Canyon, the Skeleton Coast, Windhoek, welwitschia, the flag and the Herero and Nama genocide, and each question carries the sentence that supports it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital and largest city of Namibia?
Windhoek
It sits about 1,700 m up on the Khomas Highland in the centre of the country.
Q 02Namibia is named after which desert?
The Namib
The Khoi word means 'vast place'; the country was named by Mburumba Kerina.
Q 03The Namib is often described as what?
The oldest desert in the world
It has been arid for roughly 55 to 80 million years, rivalled only by the Atacama.
Q 04Namibia is the driest country in which region?
Sub-Saharan Africa
Average rainfall is about 350 mm a year, dropping to almost nothing on the Skeleton Coast.
Q 05Which ocean lies to the west of Namibia?
The Atlantic
The cold Benguela Current offshore creates the fog that keeps the desert alive.
Q 06What is the narrow panhandle in Namibia's northeast that reaches toward Zambia and Zimbabwe called?
The Caprivi Strip
It gets the country's highest rainfall and saw a secessionist attempt in 1999.
Q 07Namibia sits between the Namib and which other desert?
The Kalahari
The Kalahari extends into the neighbours to the south and east.
Q 08What is the highest point in Namibia, at 2,573 m?
Königstein
It lies on the Central Plateau, on the Brandberg massif.
Q 09Sossusvlei's tallest dune, nicknamed Big Daddy, rises to roughly what height?
325 metres
The name Sossusvlei roughly means 'dead-end marsh'.
Q 10The Etosha salt pan covers about what share of Etosha National Park?
23%
The park was proclaimed a game reserve by the German governor in 1907.
Q 11Which endangered animal is among the threatened species protected in Etosha?
Black rhinoceros
Hundreds of species of mammals, birds and reptiles live in the park.
Q 12The Fish River gorge holds which distinction?
Largest canyon in Africa
It runs about 160 km, up to 27 km wide and nearly 550 m deep.
Q 13The Skeleton Coast takes its name from what?
Whale and seal bones on the shore
Today the shore is also littered with hundreds of shipwrecks.
Q 21Which country administered Namibia under a League of Nations mandate from 1920?
South Africa
It later imposed apartheid on the territory and refused to hand it to the UN.
Q 22What was Namibia called before independence?
South West Africa
The UN General Assembly voted to rename it Namibia in 1968.
Q 23Which movement did the UN recognise in 1973 as the official representative of Namibians?
SWAPO
Its armed wing became the People's Liberation Army of Namibia.
Q 24On what date did Namibia become independent?
Q 14The San called the Skeleton Coast 'The Land God Made in Anger'; what did Portuguese sailors call it?
The Gates of Hell
Dense fogs from the Benguela current shroud it for much of the year.
Q 15The welwitschia plant of the Namib is remarkable for having how many leaves?
Two
They keep growing for the plant's whole life, and the oldest specimens may be 2,000 years old.
Q 16The oldest welwitschias are thought to be roughly how old?
2,000 years
Its Afrikaans name means 'two leaves, can't die'.
Q 17Which European empire colonised Namibia in 1884?
Germany
The colony lasted until a 1915 defeat by South African forces.
Q 18The German campaign against the Herero and Nama in 1904-08 is often called what?
The first genocide of the 20th century
About 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama were killed.
Q 19Which German commander issued the notorious extermination order against the Herero in October 1904?
Lothar von Trotha
He issued a second order against the Nama in April 1905.
Q 20Berlin formally acknowledged the genocide and agreed to pay compensation in which year?
2021
A minister had apologised in 2004, but the official acknowledgement came 17 years later.
21 March 1990
Nelson Mandela, freed a month earlier, attended the ceremony.
Q 25Who was sworn in as Namibia's first president?
Sam Nujoma
Representatives of 147 countries attended the ceremony.
Q 26Which port remained under South African control until 1994, four years after independence?
Walvis Bay
Britain's Cape Colony had annexed it, with the Penguin Islands, back in 1878.
Q 27Who won Namibia's 2024 presidential election as SWAPO's first female candidate?
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah
She took 57 percent of the vote.
Q 28Which president of Namibia died in office in February 2024?
Hage Geingob
Vice-president Nangolo Mbumba finished his term.
Q 29What is Namibia's sole official language?
English
Only about 2.3 percent of the population speaks it at home; German and Afrikaans lost official status in 1990.
Q 30Which language is spoken in almost half of Namibian households?
Oshiwambo
It is the language of the largest ethnic group.