1. Africa
Physical Geography

2. Plateaus
Africa is a gigantic plateau. One plateau follows another as the land rises from the west to east in a series of steps.
Separating the plateaus are steep cliffs called escarpments.
Rivers that spill over the escarpments in waterfalls are known as cataracts.

3. Plateaus

4. Escarpments

5. Cataracts

6. Mountains Despite the high elevations, Africa possesses few mountains.
Drakensburg Mtns.
Ruwenzori Mtns.
Mount Kilimanjara is Africa’s highest mountain.

7. Mount Kilimanjaro

8. Great Rift Valley
One of the world’s natural wonders, the valley stretches from the Jordan River in Southwest Asia to the Zambezi River in Mozambique.
Y-shaped trench 3500 miles long with escarpments more than a mile high.
Cuts in the Great Rift Valley form the continent’s largest lakes.

9. Great Rift Valley

10. Water Systems: Lakes
Lake Victoria is the second largest freshwater lake in the world and the source of the White Nile.
Tanganyika is the world’s longest freshwater lake at 420 miles long.
Lake Malawi is the 3rd greatest lake in Africa and is known for it’s many types of fish.

11. Lake Victoria: Satellite Image

12. Lake Victoria

13. Lake Tanganyika: Satellite Image

14. Lake Tanganyika

15. Lake Tanganyika

16. Water Systems: Rivers/Falls
There are four major rivers in Africa: Nile, Zaire, Niger, and Zambezi.
Victoria Falls, named after a British Queen, is more than twice the height of Niagara Falls.

17. Victoria Falls

18. Physical Map Assignment Label the following features:
Congo Basin
Ruwenzori Mtns.
Kalahari Desert
Victoria Falls
Great Rift Valley
Mt. Kilimanjaro
Serengeti Plains
Drakensberg Mtns.
Atlantic Ocean
Indian Ocean
Mozambique Channel
Gulf of Aden
13. Red Sea
14. Mediterranean Sea
15. Strait of Gibraltar
16. Gulf of Guinea
17. Lake Victoria
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Malawi
Nile River
Niger River
Zaire River
Zambezi River
Sahara Desert
Ethiopian Highlands