Q 01/05

Dust from the dry bed of ancient Mega-Lake Chad drifts across an ocean to fertilise which rainforest?

A) The Daintree

B) The Amazon

C) The Tongass

D) The Valdivian

Answer · why

B) The Amazon

The Amazon gets much of its mineral-rich dust from the Bodélé Depression in Chad, a bowl of dried lakebed that throws up dust storms about 100 days a ...

Q 02/05

Kuri cattle, a giant-horned breed found only around Lake Chad, are famous for which unusual skill?

A) Climbing

B) Digging

C) Jumping

D) Swimming

Answer · why

D) Swimming

Swimming comes naturally to Kuri cattle, which spend much of their time in the lake. Herders believe the bulbous, hollow horns help them float.

Q 03/05

Which Norwegian adventurer hired boatbuilders from Lake Chad to build Ra, his reed boat for crossing the Atlantic?

A) Thor Heyerdahl

B) Roald Amundsen

C) Fridtjof Nansen

D) Børge Ousland

Answer · why

A) Thor Heyerdahl

Thor Heyerdahl modelled Ra on ancient Egyptian drawings and took a Chadian, Abdullah Djibrine, in his crew. The boat sagged and broke apart before it ...

Q 04/05

Between the 1960s and the 1980s, the open water of Lake Chad shrank by roughly what share?

A) About 3%

B) About 10%

C) About 30%

D) About 90%

Answer · why

D) About 90%

About 90% of the open water vanished, falling from roughly 25,000 square kilometres to 2,000. Rainfall has partly recovered since, and the lake is no ...

Q 05/05

Which insurgent group, founded in north-eastern Nigeria, has displaced millions of people around Lake Chad?

A) Al-Shabaab

B) Janjaweed

C) Boko Haram

D) Séléka

Answer · why

C) Boko Haram

Boko Haram grew out of a sect founded in the city of Maiduguri in 2002. Its fighters later became active in every country on the lake's shores.