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South Africa, officially known as the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, bordered by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland. With a population of over 59 million people, South Africa is known for its diverse culture and history, as well as its natural beauty. The country is home to many famous landmarks such as Table Mountain, Kruger National Park and Robben Island.
The country is also known for its rich culture, particularly the traditional music, dance and art of the indigenous tribes. South Africa is also known for its delicious cuisine, including dishes such as bobotie, and biltong. The country is also known for its wine regions, particularly in the Western Cape. South Africa is also known for its wildlife, particularly the Big Five animals: lion, elephant, leopard, buffalo and rhinoceros.
With so much to explore, South Africa trivia questions are sure to be a fun and educational experience. Whether you're interested in culture, history, food, wildlife, or geography, there is something for everyone to learn and discover about this fascinating country.
1. After a sudden $180 billion loss from his peak net worth of $300 billion, what South African-born businessman was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2023 as experiencing the "largest loss of personal fortune in history?
Answer: Elon Musk
2. Under normal circumstances, 27 years of jail time would stop most people from being elected their country’s president, but which South African Nobel Peace Prize winner became his country’s first indigenous head of state?
Answer: Nelson Mandela
3. Held on his birthday, July 18 is an international celebration of the life of what apartheid-fighting, former South African president?
Answer: Nelson Mandela
4. Describing his 27 years in prison before becoming the President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela's autobiography is called "Long Walk to" what?
Answer: Freedom
5. In South Africa, the Day of Goodwill is officially observed as a public holiday every December 26th. However, in other countries including the UK, Australia, and Canada, this shopful holiday is commonly known by what name?
Answer: Boxing Day
6. What type of long plastic horn, which produces a single note and whose name may come from Zulu or Nguni, became world-famous during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa?
Answer: Vuvuzela
7. What color is also a royal house in the Netherlands, a river found in South Africa, and the name of a fruit when mixed with chocolate creates the flavor known as Jaffa?
Answer: Orange
8. Take a five-letter word that means an instrument with pipes played in a church. Add the two-letter domain code for South Africa. What stiff, sheer dress material is the result?
Answer: Organza
9. During his tenure as the host of “The Daily Show,” what comedian released his 2016 autobiography “Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood,” which recounts his experiences of growing up in an apartheid nation?
Answer: Trevor Noah
10. As part of the apartheid boycott, what nation was banned from international cricket from 1970 to 1992?
Answer: South Africa
11. Native to South Africa, Strelitzia Reginae is an ornamental plant more commonly known by what three-word name? This flower is common in gardens in tropical and subtropical regions and is in fact the official flower of Los Angeles.
Answer: Bird of Paradise
12. The oldest university in Africa was founded in 1873 as The University of the Cape of Good Hope. In 1912 it was renamed as The University of...what country?
Answer: South Africa
13. South African singer Miriam Makeba brought African music to the world in the 1960s. Also a civil rights activist, she sang the song “Soweto Blues” as a critique of what policy instituted in South Africa in 1948?
Answer: Apartheid
14. Wolof, Yoruba, Sotho, San, and Xhosa are all languages spoken primarily on what continent?
Answer: Africa
15. As of 2022, who is the current and 5th democratically-elected president of South Africa?
Answer: Cyril Ramaphosa
16. The only African country to make it to the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup semi-finals more than once is what nation with enough business for three capital cities?
Answer: South Africa
17. If you had tickets to Peter Mokaba Stadium, Free State Stadium, Royal Bafokeng Stadium, and Mbombela Stadium, you were almost certainly in attendance at the World Cup in what country?
Answer: South Africa
18. In 2001, Goldman Sachs coined the phrase BRIC as an acronym for the four biggest developing economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China. Located on Cape Agulhas, what fifth country added an S to the acronym in 2010?
Answer: South Africa
19. The Birkin motorcar company is from which Southern Hemisphere country?
Answer: South Africa
20. The Cape Malay ethnic group in South Africa is typically associated with what religion?
Answer: Islam
21. The former Charlene Wittstock, who once swam for the South African Olympic team, is now married to the monarch of what principality?
Answer: Monaco
22. Often falsely considered to be the southern tip of Africa, what South African Cape is known for being difficult to pass? It is where the Flying Dutchman is said to be forever trying to navigate through.
Answer: The Cape of Good Hope
23. Two African nations border a single other country: Lesotho, an enclave of South Africa, and what country that is completely surrounded on all sides by the nation of Senegal?
Answer: The Gambia
24. The Property Practitioners Regulatory Agency (PPRA) oversees and regulates real estate professionals and transactions in what African nation?
Answer: South Africa
25. Jacques Kallis racked up 13,289 career test cricket runs while repping what African nation?
Answer: South Africa
26. In 2023, a handful of countries including Argentina and the UAE were invited to join what economic summit, previously consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa?
Answer: BRICS
27. Botswana, Malawi, and Swaziland (Eswatini) all became independent nations in the 1960s after previously being colonies of what European nation?
Answer: United Kingdom
28. Dune 45 is one of the Sossusvlei “star” dunes, and it’s made of sand that’s over 5 million years old. Which South African country is it located in?
Answer: Namibia
29. Which public holiday in South Africa that’s observed on December 16th was first meant to commemorate the Battle of Blood River, but was renamed in 1995 to mark the end of apartheid and promote national unity?
Answer: Day of Reconciliation
30. What South African track and field star was found guilty of culpable murder after fatally shooting his girlfriend in 2013? This athlete claimed in court that he mistook her for an intruder.
Answer: Oscar Pistorius
31. What country is boosting efforts to use more solar power to prevent rolling blackouts such as those in its rural KwaZulu-Natal province?
Answer: South Africa
32. Named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2018, comedian and writer Trevor Noah was born in what Southern Hemisphere CITY?
Answer: Johannesburg
33. There are only three countries that are landlocked by just one country. Two are in Italy—Vatican City and San Marino. The third is Lesotho, which is in which country?
Answer: South Africa
34. What mountain located in South Africa's Cape Town shares its name with a piece of household furniture and is home to at least as many species of plant as the entirety of the United Kingdom?
Answer: Table top
35. An alien race arrives on Earth and is exiled to a slum in Johannesburg, South Africa in what critically acclaimed 2009 film?
Answer: District 9
36. Named for a statesman, what is the largest national park in South Africa, which offers the chance for people on safari to see wildlife up close?
Answer: Kruger
37. What series of fossil bearing cavities, 25 miles northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, is the fifth richest source of hominids in the “C”radle of Humankind? This cave is not owned by a barrel maker.
Answer: Cooper's Cave
38. What 300 kilometer stretch of south-eastern coast of South Africa extends from Witsand in the Western Cape to the Tsitsikamma Storms River in the Eastern Cape? It gets its name from the diverse vegetation found throughout the path.
Answer: Garden Route
39. Discovered in 1905 in South Africa and named after the chairman of the mine in which it was found, what is the name of the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever discovered?
Answer: Cullinan Diamond
40. Formerly an exclave on South Africa, Walvis Bay is currently the second largest city of which African country?
Answer: Namibia
41. What party won an overwhelming 252 out of 400 seats in South Africa's 1994 elections, the first to be held since a ban on the party was lifted?
Answer: African National Congress
42. In 1993 South African president F. W. de Klerk was announced as the joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Which man, who would replace him as president the following year, did he win the award alongside?
Answer: Nelson Mandela
43. In the waters off of what country were coelacanths discovered in 1938? The fish had been thought to have been extinct 65 million years ago.
Answer: South Africa
44. The language spoken by the inhabitants of Wakanda in the Black Panther movies is a real language, an official language of South Africa and Zimbabwe. What is it? This language is also used by Rafiki the Mandrill in The Lion King.
Answer: Xhosa
45. The Confederate States of America and apartheid-era South Africa are two nations associated with what kind of partial democracy reserved for a specific ethnic group, the name of which comes from the German word for "master race?
Answer: Herrenvolk
46. In South Africa, Cape Town is considered the legislative capital (since it’s where Parliament is), Bloemfontein is the judicial capital, and which city is the administrative capital (where the Executive branch of the government and all foreign embassies are)?
Answer: Pretoria
47. What Southern Bantu language is an official language of South Africa, Zimbabwe, and a nearby country whose name also includes the name of the language?
Answer: Sotho
48. What party, formerly banned and represented by Nelson Mandela, dominated the first post-apartheid elections in South Africa, held in 1994?
Answer: African National Congress
49. Simon Nkoli, a gay and civil rights activist, was one of the founders of the first Pride parade held in the largest city in what African country?
Answer: South Africa
50. Travelers in Southern Africa who want to hit the slopes have only two options: South Africa's Tiffendell Ski Resort and Afriski, located in the Maluti mountains of what enclave nation?
Answer: Lesotho
51. What cape on the southern coast of South Africa gets its name because it represented, for Portuguese explorers, the promise of a sea route to India and the East?
Answer: Cape of Good Hope
52. Table Mountain, a unique flat-topped geographic feature, is located in Table Mountain National Park within what African city?
Answer: Cape Town
53. If you visit Cape Town, you could take in the curiously flat-topped Table Mountain, one of the top tourist attractions in what country?
Answer: South Africa
54. Sometimes containing diamonds, an igneous rock called Kimberlite is named for a mining town in what Southern Hemisphere country?
Answer: South Africa
55. What man served as the Bishop of Johannesburg and then Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996? He was also the chair of South Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1995.
Answer: Desmond Tutu
56. In the 1990s the majority of emigration of South African health care professionals was to what European power?
Answer: United Kingdom
57. The Battle of Isandlwana and the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, which both took place on 22 January 1879, were battles between the British Empire and which South African kingdom?
Answer: Zulu
58. Although he was initially kicked out of university because of his proclivity to incite student protests, he eventually completed a law degree more than thirty years later after he was released from prison. Who is this man?
Answer: Nelson Mandela
59. Known as a mining "powerhouse," what country is frequently the world's top annual producer of chrome, manganese, platinum, and vanadium?
Answer: South Africa
60. You can hit the slopes in Southern Africa, but at only two resorts: Tiffindell Ski Resort in South Africa and Afriski in the Maloti Mountains of what enclave country?
Answer: Lesotho
61. Castle Beer has long been recognized as the official beer brand of what country, where it sponsors, among other things, the national rugby team known as the Springboks?
Answer: South Africa
62. The country of South Africa completely encloses what "enclaved country" with a total population of around 2 million citizens? This country was formerly known as Basutoland and is one of only three independent states completely surrounded by the territory of another country (along with Vatican City and San Marino.)
Answer: Lesotho
63. At 790ft/240m deep it is claimed as the deepest hole ever excavated by hand. The Big Hole (formerly Kimberly Mine) is an open-pit diamond mine in which country?
Answer: South Africa
64. Video footage from recordings of the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience is uploaded to YouTube. The most watched episode on the platform features which South African as its guest?
Answer: Elon Musk
65. What hard-to-spell fish was discovered in a fisherman's catch off the coast of South Africa in 1938, 66 million years after it was believed to have gone extinct?
Answer: Coelacanth
66. Fanagalo is a lingua franca used in the mining industry in South Africa that combines English, Afrikaans, and what third language?
Answer: Zulu
67. Damon Galgut's 2021 Booker Prize-winning novel The Promise depicts several generations of a family in what country, which has also been home to writers Nadine Gordimer and J. M. Coetzee?
Answer: South Africa
68. The first "successful" heart transplant occurred in South Africa, but the patient died 18 days after the operation due to pneumonia. In which decade did the first heart transplant occur?
Answer: 1960s
69. In 2008 Canada officially established a TRC with the purpose of documenting the history and lasting impacts of the Canadian Indian residential school system on Indigenous students and their families. Other well-known TRCs include post-apartheid South Africa and multiple in Latin America. What does TRC stand for?
Answer: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
70. Seven players are considered "Silver Fern Centurions" having played over 100 international games of netball for New Zealand. Five of these players were born in New Zealand, but what country were the other two born in?
Answer: South Africa
71. Although they lost the game to South Africa, which All Blacks player scored the only try of the match in the 2023 Rugby World Cup Final?
Answer: Beauden Barrett
72. What mixed drink, popular in South Africa, is made from mixing soda water, lemonade, Angostura bitters, fresh lemon, and ice?
Answer: Rock Shandy
73. South African leader Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years of incarceration on what island off the coast of Cape Town?
Answer: Robben Island
74. Which large, muscled, flat-faced, crossbreed of a very large breed and an extinct British breed makes a great guard dog? (Fun fact: De Beers brought them to South Africa in the 1920s to protect their diamond mines).
Answer: Bullmastiff
75. What South African national park is bordered by the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga as well as the countries of Zimbabwe and Mozambique? The park is famed as one of the largest game reserves in Africa.
Answer: Kruger National Park
76. South Africa's 89 kilometer Comrades Marathon alternates "up" years, run from Pietermaritzburg, with "down" years run from what bay city?
Answer: Durban
77. Being formed in 1950 and currently the second largest of their country, Sasol is a chemical manufacturing company that specializes in low-carbon energy. What southern hemisphere country are they from?
Answer: South Africa
78. One of South Africa's three capital cities is in the northern part of Gauteng province, straddles the Apies River, and the foothills of the Magaliesberg mountains. What city is this?
Answer: Pretoria
79. How many years did Nelson Mandela spend in prison in South Africa?
Answer: 27
80. What colorful waterway is the longest river within the borders of South Africa?
Answer: Orange River
81. In terms of elevation, which country in South Africa has the highest lowest point of any country in the world (4,593 ft)?
Answer: Lesotho
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