Geography Facts for Kids
Cool facts about our planet
Lake Natron in Tanzania has an extremely high salt and soda content that can calcify animals that die in its waters, turning them stone-like. Flamingos, however, thrive there and it's one of their main breeding grounds.
Cape Horn at the very tip of South America is where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet. It is one of the most dangerous stretches of water for sailors because of powerful storms and enormous waves.
Australia is the only country in the world that is also an entire continent all by itself. It is the world's sixth largest country by area and the largest country in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Bermuda Triangle is a loosely defined region in the North Atlantic Ocean where dozens of ships and aircraft have mysteriously disappeared. Scientists say most disappearances can be explained by weather, human error, and ocean currents.
The Alps were formed when the African tectonic plate slowly collided with the Eurasian plate millions of years ago. Today the Alps stretch across eight countries and are the main watershed of western Europe.
Ethiopia is the world's most populous landlocked country with over 120 million people. It has no coastline, which means all its sea trade must travel through neighbouring countries.
Fjords are not unique to Norway — they can also be found in New Zealand, Chile, Greenland, Alaska, and Canada. All fjords were carved by glaciers during ice ages, leaving deep U-shaped valleys flooded by the sea.
The Strait of Gibraltar, which connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, is only about 14 km wide at its narrowest point. It is the only waterway separating the continents of Europe and Africa.
The Gobi Desert in Central Asia is one of the world's fastest-expanding deserts, growing by hundreds of square kilometres each year. It now reaches parts of northern China that were once productive farmland.
Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean Sea, about the size of England. It has over 4,000 smaller islands and cays surrounding it, making it an archipelago as well.