Africa Free Printable Crossword Puzzle

Print a free Africa vocabulary crossword clued by geography: deserts, rivers, countries, capitals and wildlife, with its answer key.

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Africa Crossword

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Answer key: Africa Crossword

1K2REDSEAN3SY4VOLCA5NO6GUIITG7NZHE8MADAGASCAR9DIFIERRAL10OSTRICHTBC11OASIS12CAMEL

Across 2 REDSEA · 4 VOLCANO · 8 MADAGASCAR · 10 OSTRICH · 11 OASIS · 12 CAMEL

Down 1 KENYA · 3 SOUTHAFRICA · 5 NIGERIA · 6 GIZA · 7 NAIROBI · 9 DELTA

Next step Find Africa words in a word searchPrint the South America crossword

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Deserts, Mountains and Land 27

  • Agulhas Cape that is the southernmost point of Africa, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet
  • Atlas Mountain range of the far northwest, between the Mediterranean coast and the desert
  • Delta Low, fan-shaped plain that a river builds where it meets the sea
  • Drakensberg Range on the eastern side of the far south whose name comes from the Dutch for dragons' mountains
  • Dune Mound of sand that the wind heaps up and slowly moves
  • Equator Line of zero latitude, which cuts across the middle of Africa
  • Good Hope "Cape of ___ ___": famous rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the far south
  • Horn "The ___ of Africa": the pointed eastern corner that juts out toward Arabia
  • Kalahari Dry, sandy region of the south whose name comes from a Tswana word for the great thirst
  • Kilimanjaro Africa's highest mountain, an ice-capped giant that stands alone in the Tanzanian northeast
  • Mount Kenya Second-highest mountain in Africa, which gave a country its name
  • Namib Coastal desert along the Atlantic in the southwest, with some of the tallest sand hills in the world
  • Ngorongoro Huge Tanzanian bowl left when a giant peak collapsed, now full of wildlife
  • Oasis Place in a desert where water lets palms and crops grow
  • Okavango River that fans out into a huge inland wetland and never reaches the sea
  • Plateau Tableland: a broad stretch of high, level ground
  • Rainforest Thick, wet woodland; the second largest on Earth grows in the middle of Africa
  • Rift "Great ___ Valley": chain of long, deep trenches that runs down the east side of Africa
  • Rwenzori Snow-capped range that early European explorers linked with the legendary Mountains of the Moon
  • Sahara Sea of sand and stone that fills most of North Africa; no hot desert on Earth is larger
  • Sahel Dry belt of grassland that crosses Africa just south of the great northern desert
  • Savanna Grassland dotted with trees, the open country of zebras and lions
  • Serengeti Tanzanian plain famous for the yearly migration of wildebeests and zebras
  • Sinai Triangle of Egyptian land that lies in Asia, on the far side of a great canal
  • Virunga Chain of peaks built by eruptions where three countries meet, home of mountain gorillas
  • Volcano Mountain built by eruptions; Africa's highest peak is a sleeping one
  • Zanzibar Island group off the Tanzanian coast, famous for its cloves

Rivers, Lakes and Seas 20

  • Blue Nile Branch that starts at the Ethiopian Lake Tana; it is shorter than its twin but carries more water
  • Cataract Stretch of rocky rapids; Africa's longest river has six famous ones
  • Congo The deepest river in the world and the second in length in Africa; two countries carry its name
  • Gibraltar Strait where Africa and Europe almost touch, at the western gate of the Mediterranean
  • Kariba Lake on the border of two southern countries, the largest man-made lake in the world by volume
  • Lake Victoria Africa's largest lake, shared by three countries of the east
  • Limpopo Southern river that reaches the Indian Ocean; a South African province is named for it
  • Malawi Long, narrow lake of the southeast, and the country on its western shore
  • Niger Main river of West Africa, about 4,180 kilometers long
  • Nile River of the pharaohs, the longest in Africa, which empties into the Mediterranean
  • Orange Longest South African river, which flows west to the Atlantic
  • Red Sea Long, narrow sea between northeast Africa and Arabia
  • Suez Canal that cuts through Egyptian desert and divides Africa from Asia
  • Tanganyika Longest freshwater lake in the world, and the deepest in Africa
  • Turkana World's largest permanent desert lake, in the Kenyan north
  • Victoria Falls Waterfall of the south more than 1,700 meters wide, called "thundering smoke" in the Lozi language
  • Volta Huge lake behind the Akosombo Dam, among the largest lakes ever made by people
  • Wadi Dry riverbed of the desert that fills with water only after rain
  • White Nile Longer branch of Africa's great river, which begins near the continent's largest lake
  • Zambezi River of the south that drops over a famous waterfall on its way to the Indian Ocean

Countries 46

  • Algeria Africa's largest country, with its capital on the Mediterranean and desert behind
  • Angola Large country on the Atlantic in the southwest whose official language is Portuguese
  • Benin Narrow West African country whose capital is Porto-Novo
  • Botswana Landlocked southern country, much of it covered by a dry, sandy region; its capital is Gaborone
  • Burkina Faso West African country with no coast; Ouagadougou is its capital
  • Burundi Small country on the northeastern shore of the world's longest freshwater lake; its capital is Gitega
  • Cameroon Country in the corner where the west coast turns south; its capital is Yaoundé
  • Cape Verde Island country in the Atlantic off the western tip of the mainland, also called Cabo Verde
  • Chad Country with no coast that touches a shallow lake of the same name, which shrank greatly between 1960 and 1990
  • Comoros Island country in the Indian Ocean whose capital is Moroni
  • Djibouti Small country where the Gulf of Aden narrows; it shares its name with its capital
  • Egypt Country of the pharaohs, whose land reaches from Africa into Asia
  • Eritrea Country on the coast across from Arabia whose capital is Asmara
  • Eswatini Small southern kingdom that was called Swaziland until 2018
  • Ethiopia East African country with more people than any other country without a coast
  • Gabon Country on the west coast, right on the line of zero latitude; its capital is Libreville
  • Gambia The smallest country of mainland Africa, a ribbon of land along one river
  • Ghana West African country with a huge man-made lake; it was called the Gold Coast before 1957
  • Guinea West African country whose capital is Conakry; a great gulf of the Atlantic shares its name
  • Ivory Coast West African country, also called Côte d'Ivoire, that is the world's largest exporter of cocoa beans
  • Kenya East African country named for its highest mountain
  • Lesotho Mountain kingdom with only one neighbor, which surrounds it completely
  • Liberia West African republic settled in the 1800s by free Black Americans
  • Libya Mostly desert country on the Mediterranean, rich in oil
  • Madagascar Fourth-largest island in the world, home of the lemurs
  • Mali Landlocked West African country whose capital is Bamako
  • Mauritania Desert country of the northwest where the sands meet the Atlantic; its capital is Nouakchott
  • Mauritius Island country in the Indian Ocean where the dodo once lived
  • Morocco Kingdom at Africa's northwest corner, with coasts on both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean
  • Mozambique Country on the southeast coast; the channel between it and a great island shares its name
  • Namibia Dry country of the southwest named for the coastal desert along its shore
  • Nigeria Country with the most people in Africa
  • Rwanda Small, hilly country nicknamed the land of a thousand hills
  • Senegal Country at the western tip of the mainland, named like the river on its northern border
  • Seychelles Africa's smallest country, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean
  • Sierra Leone West African country on the Atlantic, named long ago by a Portuguese explorer for the mountains near its coast
  • Somalia Country that wraps around the eastern point of Africa, with the longest coastline on the mainland
  • South Africa Country at the southern tip of the mainland, with three capital cities
  • South Sudan Africa's newest country, independent since 2011; its capital is Juba
  • Sudan Country south of the Egyptian border, with old pyramids at Meroe
  • Tanzania East African country whose capital is Dodoma
  • Togo Narrow strip of a country in West Africa whose capital is Lomé
  • Tunisia Northernmost country in Africa, home to the ruins of Carthage
  • Uganda Landlocked East African country on the northern shore of the continent's largest lake
  • Zambia Landlocked country named for the great river on its southern border
  • Zimbabwe Landlocked southern country named for an old city of great stone walls

Capitals and Cities 37

  • Abuja Nigerian capital since 1991, when it took over from the country's largest city
  • Accra Ghanaian capital on the Atlantic coast
  • Addis Ababa Ethiopian capital, high in the mountains, where the African Union has its headquarters
  • Alexandria Egyptian port on the Mediterranean, founded by Alexander the Great
  • Algiers Capital on the Mediterranean; its country, the largest in Africa, is named for it
  • Antananarivo Malagasy capital, in the central highlands of a great island
  • Aswan Egyptian city just north of a great dam across Africa's longest river
  • Cairo Egyptian capital, the largest city in the Arab world
  • Cape Town South African city at the foot of a flat-topped mountain, where the parliament meets
  • Casablanca Moroccan port on the Atlantic, the largest city in the country
  • Dakar Senegalese capital, the westernmost city on the African mainland
  • Dar es Salaam Tanzanian port on the Indian Ocean, the largest city in the country
  • Durban South African port on the Indian Ocean
  • Freetown West African capital founded as a settlement for freed slaves, on one of the world's largest natural harbors
  • Giza City on the edge of the Egyptian capital, home of the Sphinx and the largest of the pyramids
  • Harare Zimbabwean capital, called Salisbury until 1982
  • Johannesburg Largest South African city, nicknamed the City of Gold
  • Kampala Ugandan capital, built on hills near Africa's largest lake
  • Khartoum Sudanese capital where the two main branches of Africa's longest river meet
  • Kigali Rwandan capital, near the middle of the country
  • Kinshasa Capital that faces Brazzaville across Africa's second-longest river
  • Lagos Nigerian port, the largest city in the country
  • Luanda Chief port and capital on the Angolan coast
  • Lusaka Zambian capital, on high ground in the south of the country
  • Luxor Egyptian city on the site of ancient Thebes, near the Valley of the Kings
  • Maputo Mozambican capital, a port close to the South African border
  • Marrakesh Moroccan city of red walls, near the foothills of high mountains
  • Mogadishu Capital and port on the Somali coast
  • Mombasa Port on an island of the Kenyan coast
  • Monrovia Liberian capital, named for a president of the United States
  • Nairobi Kenyan capital, a city with a national park inside its boundaries
  • Pretoria South African city that is the seat of the executive branch of the government
  • Rabat Capital of a northwestern kingdom, on the Atlantic shore
  • Timbuktu Malian city at the desert's edge, a center of trade and learning hundreds of years ago
  • Tripoli Libyan capital on the Mediterranean
  • Tunis Capital near the ruins of Carthage; its country is named for it
  • Windhoek Namibian capital, in the middle of the country

Animals and Plants 29

  • Aardvark Night animal with a long snout that digs for ants and termites; its name is Afrikaans for earth pig
  • Acacia Thorn tree of the grasslands, often with a flat top like an umbrella
  • Baobab Tree with a huge trunk, nicknamed the upside-down tree
  • Camel Desert animal with one hump in Africa, used to carry loads across the sands
  • Cheetah Spotted cat built for speed; no animal on land runs faster
  • Chimpanzee Clever ape of the African forests, one of the closest living relatives of humans
  • Crocodile Large river reptile; the best-known African kind is named for the continent's longest river
  • Elephant Tusked giant of the grasslands; nothing that walks on land is bigger
  • Flamingo Long-legged pink wading bird of shallow lakes
  • Gazelle Small, quick antelope of open, dry country
  • Giraffe Long-necked browser of the grasslands, the tallest animal alive
  • Gorilla The largest living primate, a forest ape of the continent's middle
  • Hippo Heavy river animal that spends the day in the water; the short form of its name
  • Hyena Hunter and scavenger of the grasslands, known for a call like laughter
  • Impala Graceful medium-sized antelope of the east and south, known for its high leaps
  • Lemur Primate with a long tail that lives wild on a single great island off the southeast coast
  • Leopard Spotted big cat that often hauls its meal up into the branches
  • Lion Big cat of the grasslands that lives in a family group called a pride
  • Mamba Fast, venomous snake of the lands south of the great northern desert
  • Meerkat Small mongoose of the dry south that stands on its hind legs to look around
  • Okapi Forest animal with striped legs and a long neck, found wild in only one country in the middle of Africa
  • Ostrich Two-toed runner of the open plains, the biggest of all living birds
  • Papyrus Tall reed of river marshes that ancient Egyptians made into writing sheets
  • Rhino Thick-skinned plant eater with horns on its nose; the short form of its name
  • Safari Swahili word for a journey, now used for a trip to see wildlife
  • Springbok Leaping antelope that is the South African national animal
  • Warthog Wild pig of African grassland and woodland
  • Wildebeest Antelope also called a gnu; the blue kind makes a great yearly migration
  • Zebra Striped wild relative of the horse that grazes the grasslands

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for grade 3 to 8 geography classes, in five sets: land, water, countries, capitals and cities, and animals and plants. Places, superlatives and dates were checked against English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 4.0) in October 2026. Disputed territories are left out, a country's current name is used (Eswatini), and no clue was copied from a published puzzle. Licence: own work

How it works

This Africa free printable crossword puzzle is a criss-cross grid for Letter or A4 paper. It opens on 12 easy words such as Kenya, Oasis and Ostrich.

Read the full guide

Five sets, from Aardvark to Zimbabwe

Deserts, Mountains and Land has Sahara, Sahel, Kilimanjaro and Serengeti. Rivers, Lakes and Seas runs from Nile and Congo to Lake Victoria and Suez. Countries has 46, each clued by a fact of the map: Lesotho has one neighbor, Seychelles is the smallest. Capitals and Cities has Cairo, Lagos, Nairobi and Timbuktu. Animals and Plants has Okapi, Baobab and Wildebeest.

Solve it with a map of Africa

Most capital clues give the country as an adjective, such as Kenyan capital or Ghanaian capital, so a class with an atlas can find every answer. Cape Town and Pretoria are both in the set, because South Africa has three capitals.

  • Two-word answers such as Lake Victoria and Cape Town go into the squares without the space.

Questions and answers

Is this printable Africa crossword puzzle free?

Yes. It is free to print for a whole class, with no sign-up. The answer key prints last, on a sheet of its own.

Are all the countries of Africa in the crossword?

Most. Countries has 46 of the 54, from Algeria to Zimbabwe. Malawi, Niger and Congo are answers in Rivers, Lakes and Seas, clued as a lake and two rivers.

What grade is the Africa crossword for?

Easy Africa Words suits grades 3 to 5, with answers such as Nile, Egypt, Lion and Sahara. The five themed sets suit grades 6 to 8. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

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