July 2024 Geography Bee Quiz

Learn more about the wonderful world with the help of a GeoFact of the Day Geography Bee Quiz (↗) like this one! I hope you enjoy these tasty morsels of knowledge. The answers to this quiz are listed below — enjoy and good luck!

1)      The Congo Pedicle is a foot-like panhandle region in the southeastern corner of the DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO and situated near ZAMBIA. The pedicle area features a national park known as Demalisques de Leshwe, possibly named after the genus (damaliscus) of which animal?
A — sloth
B — aardvark
C — antelope
D — penguin

2)      True or false: There is an island named Komodo in INDONESIA.

3)      The third highest mountain the world is Kangchenjunga, a Himalayan peak standing over 8,500 meters and 28,000 feet tall. Kangchenjunga is situated on the border between INDIA and what mountainous country flying a double pennant shaped flag?
A — ARGENTINA
B — BANGLADESH
C — SWITZERLAND
D — NEPAL























ANSWERS

Question 1:
C . . . . . antelope

Question 2:
True . . . . . it is home to the world-renown Komodo dragon!

Question 3:
D . . . . . Nepal

The Amazing Race 33, Episode 6 Recap

Episode Info and Summary: Racers travel by private jet to Corsica, France, where they go canyoneering through the beautiful landscape of national rockslides, waterfalls, and rivers.

Episode Airdate: Wednesday, February 2nd, 2022 on CBS

On this episode of the The Amazing Race, teams flew about 400 kilometers (250 miles) southward from Lugano, SWITZERLAND to an island sparkling with stretches of sandy coastline and 200 beaches: Corsica in southeastern FRANCE. Once the contenders arrived in Corsica…

● They visited the Pont d’Altiani (Altiani Bridge), a 14th century bridge built in the Genovese architectural style inspired by the Italian city of Genoa. Speaking of Genoa, teams flew past the city and the rest of northwest ITALY in their journey from Switzerland to Corsica. Outside the city of Corte (Corti) in Corsica, teams encountered a…

● Detour, choice between “Say Cheese” or “Mule, Please”: teams choosing the Say Cheese option cooked up three baskets worth of fromage (cheese) by heating/curdling goat milk then delivering the finished product to a storage cellar. Dusty and Ryan had difficulty with this cheese challenge since the milk was not heating and curdling in a timely manner. They likely realized that “patience is a virtue” and decided to wait out the hours-long task to successful completion. Teams choosing the Mule, Please option strapped a harness with several milk transport cans onto their mule. The relatively cooperative mules then helped deliver the milk along a rugged trail to a fromagerie.

● After completing the cheesy Detour, teams visited Altipiani, an ecotourism agency at the Verghellu Canyon. Altipiani almost translates from Italian to English as “highlands” or plateaus.” Altipiani was the location of this episode’s…

● Roadblock (“Who Wants to Make a Splash?”): at Altipiani, one member on each team had to hike and travel via Tyrolean traverse (“slow zip-lining”) to a waterfall, find a waterproof clue, slide down what is basically a natural waterslide, and hike back to his or her teammate. During this Roadblock, several teams — including Dusty and Ryan who had difficulties with the cheesemaking Detour — surpassed Akbar who participated in this Roadblock. Sheri took a breather after completing several consecutive Roadblocks in previous episodes. Worried when other teams’ teammates arrived before Akbar, she yelled out “Booby, let’s go!” with a sense of urgency to a faraway Akbar who was practically miles away.

● The clue discovered at the Roadblock instructed teams to head to the 88.5-kilometer (55-mile) Tavignano river. Teams were tasked to inflate a plastic kayak and paddle up a portion of the river to the…

● Pit Stop: Cardiccia Dam

  Season 33, Episode 6 Results

  1st — Kim and Penn
       1st place prize — $5,000 each

  2nd — Cayla and Raquel

  3rd — Dusty and Ryan

  4th — Arun and Natalia

  5th — Lala and Lulu

  6th — Akbar and Sheri
       Eliminated from the competition

The Amazing Race 33, Episode 5 Recap

Episode Info: Teams race through Switzerland, where racers bungee jump over 700 feet off the Verzasca Dam.

Episode Airdate: Wednesday, January 26th, 2022

The Amazing Race episode 5 brought teams to the canton of Ticino in southeastern SWITZERLAND. The area may be familiar to longtime viewers as it was the majestically mountainous setting for an episode in season 14 (2009). The six remaining teams of this season 33 quickly encountered a…

● Roadblock (“Who Wants to Get Down with the Travelocity Roaming Gnome?”): one member on each team took on a death-defying task indeed. Holding the iconic garden gnome figure, he or she had to bungee jump 722 feet from the top of Verzasca Dam. In several flashback scenes, teams from season 14 were shown completing the same task despite being terrified. The dam is Europe’s highest bungee jump drop-off. In regards to the team of Akbar and Sheri, Sheri unfortunately was compelled to complete the frightening quest despite her fear of heights (acrophobia); this was due to Akbar being deemed by medical staff as too overweight to safely bungee jump at the insane height. While understandably frightened, Sheri found enough courage to face her fears and do something thrilling. Cayla, Dusty, Kim, Lala, and Natalia also completed the harnessed jump.

● Teams received a small satchel for their gnome and then drove to Lugano, an Italian-speaking city very close to Italy. They proceeded to Piazza Carlo Battaglini in hopes of finding and completing a…

● Detour, choice between “Bartender Race” or “Sausage Encase”: teams choosing the Bartender Race option — Akbar/Sheri, Dusty/Ryan, and Kim/Penn — found twelve wine bottles and twelve cone-shaped containers of chestnuts and delivered them to a cocktail party. The Bartender Race was good exercise for teams because they had to climb up and down dozens of stair steps to deliver all the items. Teams choosing the Sausage Encase option — Arun/Natalia, Cayla/Raquel, and Lala/Lulu — made a type of Italian sausage (Luganega) by encasing ground sausage into a tubular lining. They coiled the sausage links into separate spirals and pinned them with long “toothpicks.”

● Upon Detour completion, clues instructed teams to bring out the photograph from their gnome’s satchel and investigate where the depicted but unidentified building is located. Villa Ciani is an 1800s mansion, conference center, and picturesque wedding venue situated steps away from the Pit Stop for this episode: Parco Ciani, a 15-acre park near Lake Lugano. Speaking of lakes, Switzerland is home to over 1,500 lakes.

● Pit Stop: Parco Ciani in the city of Lugano

● In the next episode, teams continue their European adventures in Corsica, FRANCE.

  Season 33, Episode 5 Results

  1st — Dusty and Ryan
       1st place prize — five-night resort vacation in DOMINICA

  2nd — Lala and Lulu

  3rd — Kim and Penn

  4th — Cayla and Raquel

  5th — Akbar and Sheri

  6th — Arun and Natalia
       Eliminated from the competition? No; non-elimination leg

The Amazing Race 33, Episode 4 Recap

Episode Info: Teams gather in Switzerland to restart the race nearly 20 months after production was suspended for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Episode Airdate on CBS: Wednesday, January 19th, 2022 at 9 PM

After such a long hiatus, teams competing in The Amazing Race Season 33 were clearly enthusiastic to restart the competition despite the omnipresent threat of the coronavirus pandemic. However, not everyone returned due to various reasons; some of them might have been understandingly leery of travelling and decided not to continue the pursuit of $1 million. As an illustrative (and claustrophobic) example, airline travel in the present situation seems to be a spectacle of unruly passengers being duct-taped to their small seats. My Public Service Announcement to airline companies and CEOs would be something like this: providing spacious seats/aisles/legroom (which means fewer seats with more space all around) would likely encourage your customers to be more relaxed and less confrontational — and less likely to appear on Inside Edition! For whatever the reason(s), four teams did not return to the competition in episode 3: Anthony and Spencer, Caro and Ray, Connie and Sam, and Isaiah and Taylor. Thankfully, though, this brought an opportunity for the two previously eliminated teams to return: Arun and Natalia as well as Michael and Moe.

Throughout this fourth episode, teams travelled across picturesque mountain terrain and through tremendous towns in northeastern SWITZERLAND. Teams began at the Saint Gallen Cathedral in the town of Saint Gallen. In a cameo interview scene within this episode, twin sisters Lala and Lulu told us that their grandmother unfortunately passed away in the months-long interim between episodes 3 and 4. They are dedicating the rest of their Amazing Race journey to her in loving memory.

● From the cathedral in Saint Gallen, teams went to Museumstrasse (Museum Street) and hopped on one of three classic green and yellow buses waiting to take them to Säntis, the highest mountain in Appenzell Innerrhoden canton. As a sidenote, this canton prominently features a black bear on the flag and coat of arms. A fun fact is that someone located atop or near the peak of Säntis can see six countries from that viewpoint: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, and of course Switzerland.

● Roadblock (“Who Wants to Take in the View?”): Teams rode a cable car about 8,200 feet and 2,500 meters up to the area of Säntis’ peak. In this Roadblock, one member on each team familiarized himself or herself with the ferrata, a method of walking, jogging, etc. along the mountain ridge while harnessed onto a safety rope along the way.

● The clue from the ridge top brought them to Gasthaus Sonne (Sun Inn) in the town of Urnäsch. The clue box at this location contained Detour clues.

● Detour, choice between “Punch It” or “Toss It”: teams choosing the Punch It option learned about the importance of Swiss belts to the local farming community. Swiss belts are sort of a status symbol. More silver ornaments — which look like decorative belt buckles — are traditionally thought of to indicate more financial wealth. These belts also have cultural and storytelling significance in that the ornaments tell a story in a one-side-to-another order, sort of like a comic strip in the newspaper. Teams utilized various hand tools to attach ornaments in the shape of a calf, farmer with cow, goat, sun, etc. in the correct order based on the example belt.

Teams choosing the Toss It option learned about Fahnenschwingen, a Swiss discipline involving choreographic maneuvers to fling, flip, toss, turn, and twist the national flag. This reminds me of talented color guard groups that do all sorts of tricks with flags of thematic designs and therefore complement high school and university marching band performances all across the United States. Amazing Race teams performed a Fahnenschwingen routine to the satisfaction of a judge to receive their next clue. Completing either the Toss It or Punch It Detour task brought teams with clues in hand to the…

● Pit Stop: Alstätten, a market town

  Season 33, Episode 4 Results

  1st — Dusty and Ryan
       1st place prize — $2,500 each

  2nd — Kim and Penn

  3rd — Cayla and Raquel

  4th — Lala and Lulu

  5th — Akbar and Sheri

  6th — Arun and Natalia

  7th — Michael and Moe
       Eliminated from the competition

Switzerland Exports

According to National Geographic MapMaker (mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org) and MIT's Observatory of Economic Complexity (atlas.media.mit.edu), the following items are major exports of SWITZERLAND: aircraft and automobile parts, aluminum and iron products, animal food, automobiles, baked goods, beverages, blood transfusions, chemical analysis instruments, chemicals and other lab supplies, chocolate, clocks, coffee, confectionary sugar, cut diamonds and other gemstones, electric transformers, equipment and machinery, gas turbines, gold, interchangeable tool parts, jewelry, knives, low-voltage protection equipment, machinery, malt extract, measuring instruments, medical devices and supplies, nuts, pharmaceuticals, plastic products, precision instruments, rolled tobacco, sauce, scrap copper, seasonings, seeds, silver, surveying equipment, tea, valves, vegetable sap, wheat flour, and wristwatches. According to the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports (February 2017 statistics) include Germany (top importer), the United States, China, India, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Austria, Japan, Belgium, Singapore, Spain, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, South Korea, Thailand, Australia, and Poland.

Switzerland Endangered Species

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for SWITZERLAND in Central Europe lists six extinct species, four critically endangered species, and sixteen endangered species. The following 4 species are critically endangered in Switzerland: Asper fish, European Eel, European Mink, and Starry Breck Lichen. Ampedus quadrisignatus beetles, Bombus inexspectatus bumblebees, Brook Barbel fish, Colletes sierrensis polyester bees, Distichophyllum carinatum moss, Epipactis de Plaisance (Epipactis of Pleasance) orchid plants, Eucobresia pegorarii land snails, Halictus carinthiacus bees, Italian Nase fish, Lasioglossum breviventre sweat bees, Myosotis rehsteineri flowering plants, Ropalopus ungaricus beetles, Thick-Shelled River Mussels, Trochulus biconicus land snails, Vertigo heldi land snails, and White-Clawed Crayfish are the 16 endangered species in Switzerland. Species named after Switzerland include the Swiss Brassy Ringlet butterfly, Swiss Chard, and Swiss Stone Pine tree.

Countries with Z in their Names

There are sixteen countries with Z in their names. Two countries start with the letter Z: Zambia and Zimbabwe. Other countries with the letter Z in their names are Azerbaijan, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mozambique, New Zealand, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela. Zaire was a former Z country, but that became the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"Land" Countries

Several countries in Asia, Europe, and Oceania have the word land in their names. I nickname them the "Land Countries," which are listed right here: FINLAND, ICELAND, IRELAND, MARSHALL ISLANDS, The NETHERLANDS, NEW ZEALAND, POLAND, SOLOMON ISLANDS, SWAZILAND, SWITZERLAND, and THAILAND. Somaliland in northeast Africa is another entity with land in its name. However, it is an autonomous region in SOMALIA fighting for its independence, not a recognized country currently.

Inn River

The Inn River is a tributary of the important Danube River in Central Europe. It flows predominantly through AUSTRIA, more specifically in the western 'panhandle' and as a part of the northern border with Germany. It originates in the Swiss Alps in eastern SWITZERLAND and flows into the Danube River at Austria's northern border. Fittingly, the city of Innsbruck is situated on the shores of the Inn River, in western Austria.

Lake Geneva

Lake Geneva, also known as Lake Léman, is located in western SWITZERLAND. It is interesting that this lake isn't named Lake Lemon because, like Lake Lemon in southern Indiana, it somewhat resembles a lemon slice! The Rhone River flows into and out of Lake Geneva. The city of Geneva is located in a 'peninsula' of land (France borders it on three sides) south of the lake.

Switzerland

Officially known as the Swiss Confederation (Confederatio Helvetica), SWITZERLAND is located in Central Europe, bordering 5 countries: Austria located to the east, France to the west, Germany to the north and northeast, Italy to the south and southeast, and the small principality of Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is called Helvetica in the Latin language and Schweiz in the German language. The capital is Bern. The currency is the Swiss Franc, and its ISO 4217 currency code is CHF. Unlike surrounding countries, Switzerland (and Liechtenstein) decided to stick with its original currency instead of switching over to the Euro.