Q 01/05

Which world record among rivers does the Congo River hold?

A) Longest

B) Deepest

C) Widest

D) Muddiest

Answer · why

B) Deepest

Deepest of all rivers, the Congo has been measured at about 220 metres (720 feet), in gorges where the lower rapids squeeze the whole flow together.

Q 02/05

What does the Congo River do that no other major river does, thanks to its great arc through Central Africa?

A) Crosses the Equator twice

B) Flows through three deserts

C) Reverses course each year

D) Empties into two oceans

Answer · why

A) Crosses the Equator twice

Crosses the Equator twice: with land on both sides of the line, some part of the basin is always in a rainy season, which keeps the flow steady all ye...

Q 03/05

Which deadly virus, first identified in 1976, is named after a small river in the Congo River basin?

A) Zika

B) Marburg

C) Ebola

D) Lassa

Answer · why

C) Ebola

Ebola was first identified at Yambuku, but a virologist named it after a river 111 km away so that the town would escape the stigma.

Q 04/05

Which primate lives only south of the Congo River, a barrier that split it from the chimpanzee?

A) Mandrill

B) Gorilla

C) Colobus

D) Bonobo

Answer · why

D) Bonobo

Bonobo and chimpanzee are both poor swimmers, so the river that formed between them over a million years ago may have split one ancestor into two spec...

Q 05/05

Which Joseph Conrad novella follows a steamboat captain sent up the Congo River for an ivory company?

A) Under Western Eyes

B) Heart of Darkness

C) The Secret Agent

D) Almayer's Folly

Answer · why

B) Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness grew out of the author's own trip in 1890, when a Belgian trading company hired him to serve on one of its river steamers.