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.
71 South Africa Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2024)
- 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
- 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
- Held on his birthday, July 18 is an international celebration of the life of what apartheid-fightin' former South African president?
Answer: Nelson Mandela
- 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
- 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
- As part of the apartheid boycott, what nation was banned from international cricket from 1970 to 1992?
Answer: South Africa
- 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
- 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
- Wolof, Yoruba, Sotho, San, and Xhosa are all languages spoken primarily on what continent?
Answer: Africa
- As of 2022, who is the current and 5th democratically-elected president of South Africa?
Answer: Cyril Ramaphosa
- Neill Blomkamp is a South African-born film director, producer, and screenwriter particularly known for his work in the science fiction genre. His feature film debut came in 2009 with the well-received District 9, but only after a project to adapt a popular video game franchise fell through (Blomkamp was attached as the director). What is the name of this franchise, which debuted a character that later lent its name to Microsoft’s version of Apple's Siri?
Answer: Halo
- 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
- 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
- We're in the money! What species of sea urchin (known as sea cookies or snapper biscuits in New Zealand, or pansy shells in South Africa) is three to four inches across, flat, and with a calcium carbonate skeleton covered with tiny spines which makes it possible for the animal to move across the ocean floor? Their round skeletons, with their five-point radial symmetry, can be found washed up on beaches in temperate and tropical zones.
Answer: Sand dollars
- The Cape Malay ethnic group in South Africa is typically associated with what religion?
Answer: Islam
- The former Charlene Wittstock, who once swam for the South African Olympic team, is now married to the monarch of what principality?
Answer: Monaco
- 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
- Two rebellions in Ireland, taking place from 1569-1573 and 1579-1583 respectively, were both named for and led by the Earl of what “D” title? It is also the first name of a South African archbishop who protested apartheid.
Answer: Desmond Rebellions
- The Property Practitioners Regulatory Agency (PPRA) oversees and regulates real estate professionals and transactions in what African nation?
Answer: South Africa
Answer: Maldives
- Jacques Kallis racked up 13,289 career test cricket runs while repping what African nation?
Answer: South Africa
- 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
- Botswana, Malawi, and Swaziland (Eswatini) all became independent nations in the 1960s after previously being colonies of what European nation?
Answer: United Kingdom
- 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: Nambia
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Formerly an exclave on South Africa, Walvis Bay is currently the second largest city of which African country?
Answer: Namibia
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Sometimes containing diamonds, an igneous rock called Kimberlite is named for a mining town in what Southern Hemisphere country?
Answer: South Africa
- 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
- In the 1990s the majority of emigration of South African health care professionals was to what European power?
Answer: United Kingdom
- 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
- Known as a mining "powerhouse," what country is frequently the world's top annual producer of chrome, manganese, platinum, and vanadium?
Answer: South Africa
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- South Africa's 89 kilometer Comrades Marathon alternates "up" years, run from Pietermaritzburg, with "down" years run from what bay city?
Answer: Durban
- Being formed in 1950 and currently the second largest of their country, Sasol is chemical manufacturing company that specializes in low-carbon energy. What southern hemisphere country are they from?
Answer: South Africa
- One of South Africa's three capital cities is in the northern part of Gauteng province, straddles the Apies River, and contains the foothills of the Magaliesberg mountains. What city is this?
Answer: Pretoria
- How many years did Nelson Mandela spend in prison in South Africa?
Answer: 27
- What colorful waterway is the longest river within the borders of South Africa?
Answer: Orange River
- 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
- The history of the first pair of eyeglasses is generally inconclusive, but some of the oldest optical lens-making tradition occurred in what South Asian nation in which King Bhuvanekabahu the IV (AD 1346 - 1353) had craftsmen with royal patronage creating eyeglasses with a special natural stone?
Answer: Sri Lanka
- Mrs. Rupa Mehra is determined to arrange her daughter's marriage in what nearly-1500-page Vikram Seth novel set in a newly independent India?
Answer: A Suitable Boy
- What mixed drink, popular in South Africa, is made from mixing soda water, lemonade, Angostura bitters, fresh lemon, and ice?
Answer: Rock Shandy
Play South Africa Trivia with Water Cooler Trivia
Water Cooler Trivia is well-equipped to provide you with exciting and engaging trivia quizzes.
So, how does it work?
Each week, our team will deliver original trivia quizzes straight to your inbox.
All you have to do is pick the categories.
You can leave the rest of the heavy lifting to us.
Take Water Cooler Trivia for a test run with our four-week free trial.
About the Author
Eli Robinson is the Chief Trivia Officer at Water Cooler Trivia. He was once in a Bruce Springsteen cover band called F Street Band.
.png){kind=logo}
.png)