North Africa

Front 1

basin

Back 1

On the African plateau, depressions which can span more than 600 miles across and as much as 5,000 feet deep

Front 2

Nile River

Back 2

The world's longest river, flowing more than 4,000 miles through Uganda and Sudan into Egypt and emptying into the Mediterranean Sea.

Front 3

rift valley(s)

Back 3

In East Africa, a long, thin valley created by the moving apart of the continental plates, stretching 4,000 miles from Jordan in SW Asia to Mozambique in S. Africa.

Front 4

Mount Kilimanjaro

Back 4

Africa's highest mountain, which is volcanic and located between Tanzania and Kenya alongside the Great Rift Valley

Front 5

Escarpment

Back 5

A steep slope with nearly a flat plateau on top, the Great Escarpment marks the edge of the continent's plateau in S. Africa.

Front 6

Sahara

Back 6

Meaning "desert" in Arabic, it is the world's largest desert, stretching 3,000 miles from the Atlantic to the Red Sea.

Front 7

aquifers

Back 7

Huge stores of underground water, which can be found up to 6,000 feet under the hottest, driest places.

Front 8

oasis

Back 8

Ground water, as from aquifers, that has risen to the surface and may sustain life and vegetation in the desert.

Front 9

Serengeti Plain (Serengeti National Park)

Back 9

A flat land with hard soil and few trees, covered in tropical grasslands throughout much of northern Tanzania. It contains some of the best tall grasses for grazing.

Front 10

canopy

Back 10

As it regards Africa's Congo basin and rainforest, it is the uppermost layer of branches which are a habitat for rainforest animals.

Front 11

Niger Delta

Back 11

At the mouth of the Niger River it contains most of Nigeria's oil.

Front 12

Desertification

Back 12

The spreading or shifting of the desert, as in Africa's Sahara.

Front 13

Sahel

Back 13

"Shore of the desert." It is a band of narrow grassland that runs east to west along the southern edge of the Sahara desert.

Front 14

Aswan High Dam

Back 14

Completed in 1970, it is used to control the flooding of the Nile.

Front 15

Lake Nassar

Back 15

An artifical lake created behind the Aswan Dam to hold the Nile's floodwaters; it stretches for nearly 300 miles and is shared by Egypt and Sudan.

Front 16

silt

Back 16

The rich sediment once deposited by the flooding Nile.