| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| The local Anangu people discourage visitors from climbing this feature because it crosses a sacred 'Dreamtime' track. This feature constitutes a national park with the neighboring Kata Tjuta [[JU-ta]] formation. This inselberg located southwest of Alice Springs is sacred to the region's indigenous Aborigine population. For the point, name this natural sandstone rock formation in central Australia. | Uluru (also accept Ayers Rock) |
| This country's town of Loka contains Africa's largest teak plantation. This country's president, Salva Kiir, resolved a crisis over Heglig Oil Field, and that leader is known for his black Stetson hat. The Dinka and Nuer are ethnic groups of this county, the only one where Nilo-Saharan languages are dominant. For the point, name this country that formed in 2011 after breaking from a northern neighbor. | Republic of South Sudan (do not accept or prompt on "Sudan") |
| This polity disputes Swains Island with Tokelau and maintains control of the Manu'a Islands. This territory's flag displays an eagle holding a war club and fly whisk This territory's island of Tutuila [[too-TWEE-luh]] contains its capital, and it forms a namesake archipelago with a country that has its capital at Apia. For the point, identify this U.S. territory with capital at Pago Pago. | American Samoa (prompt on "Samoa;" prompt on "Eastern Samoa;" accept Tokelau before mentioned) |
| This city's Khayelitsha [[KYE-uh-lit-sha]] Slum faced a "Day Zero" where major dams supplying it would fall below 13.5 percent capacity. This city north of False Bay contains beaches like Clifton that are cooled by the Benguela Current. This city's Robben Island held prisoners like Jacob Zuma, and this city is overlooked by Table Mountain. For the point, name this two-word legislative capital of South Africa. | Cape Town (accept Kaapstad; accept iKapa) |
| A "ruler" of one of these entities, Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen, attempted to buy land from Kiribati [[KEER-uh-BAHS]] and the Gambia to reestablish the Romanov Empire. These entities have been established at Bir Tawil and Marie Byrd Land, and the two most well-known examples are Sealand and Liberland. For the point, name these dubious and small geopolitical entities that claim to be sovereign states. | Micronations (do not accept "Microstates") |
| This island's Savage River National Park includes the Tarkine region. This island's highest point is Mount Ossa. This island was the last known habitat of the Thylacine, a predatory marsupial sometimes called this island's "tiger." Governed from the city of Hobart, this is, for the point, what island and Australian state that is separated from the mainland by the Bass Strait and home to a namesake devil? | Tasmania |
| This city's Nichupté [[nih-CHOOP-tay]] Lagoon separates it from a "Hotel Zone" at its easternmost mainland point. This city, the largest of Quintana [[KWIN-tah-nuh]] Roo, has the second-busiest airport of its country. That airport in this city is often used to access Tulum and Cozumel on the "Riviera Maya." For the point, name this Mexican resort city on Yucatan's northeastern tip. | Cancún |
| This city contains the Milad Tower, as well as a Treasury of National Jewels that is associated with a bank that manages the rial's value. That treasury in this city displays treasures from the Qajar Dynasty that lived in this city's Golestan Palace. This city in the backdrop of the Alborz Mountains was the site of a 1979 hostage crisis after the Islamic Revolution. For the point, name this capital of Iran. | Tehran |
| This mountain is held to be the sacred dwelling of the god Ngai [[un-GUY]]. Runoff from this mountain's glaciers feeds the Tana and Ewaso Ng'iro [[eh-WAH-so "NERO"]] Rivers. An anthropological study of the Kikuyu [[kih-KOO-yoo]] people is titled Facing this mountain. For the point, name this second-tallest mountain in Africa that is located in a namesake East African nation. | Mount Kenya |
| This province's largest city apologized to its Black community for destroying the Africville community in 2010, and that city suffered from the world's largest pre-nuclear explosion in 1917. This province's Cape Breton Island is separated from Newfoundland by the Cabot Strait. For the point, name this Maritime Province home to the port of Halifax. | Nova Scotia (accept Nouvelle-Écosse) |
| This city renamed itself "UNO" for April Fool's Day in 2016. This city owns the Eaglecrest Ski Area on Douglas Island, which is separated from this city via the Gastineau Channel. This city's St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church historically served Tlingit [[TLEEN-get]] miners. This city is the only state capital in the U.S. to border another country. For the point, name this capital of Alaska. | Juneau (accept Dzánti K'ihéeni) |
| This city was once ruled by the Della Scala family, the namesake of the Scaliger Bridge that crosses the Adige River along with the Ponte Pietra. This city, whose arena will host the 2026 Winter Olympics closing ceremonies, is located 13 miles from Lake Garda. This largest city of mainland Venetia is known for a play about its "Two Gentlemen." For the point, name this setting of Romeo and Juliet. | Verona |
| Destinations created exclusively for this industry include Castaway Cay, and this industry affected by outbreaks of the norovirus provided lodging for the Olympic games in Sochi. Patrons of this industry recorded half the world's known Covid cases when the Diamond Princess was stranded in Yokohama. For the point, name this industry dominated by companies such as Carnival and Royal Caribbean. | Cruise Ship Industry (accept reasonable alternatives) |
| A desalination plant from Point Loma was relocated to this polity after water from the Yateras River was cut off. A "Cactus Curtain" separates this polity from the rest of its island, which was formerly home to the largest minefield in the Americas. Camp Echo and Camp Iguana were used to house captured Haitian migrants and suspected terrorists at, for the point, what American military base in Cuba? | Guantanamo Bay (accept Gitmo; prompt on "Cuba" until mentioned) |
| The Aralkum Desert has formed out of territory that used to be considered a part of this body of water. The Karakum Canal taps the primary river flowing into this body of water, the Amu Darya. This lake lost much of its volume due to Soviet irrigation canals meant to irrigate cotton in the 1950s. For the point, name this ever-shrinking sea in Central Asia between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. | Aral Sea |
| This country's city of Tadmur was established by the French Mandatory forces for relocated residents of Palmyra, which is located in the Homs Governate. A Shi'a sect known as the Alawites are centered in this country's largest port of Latakia, and that sect counts the al-Assad family among its members. Aleppo was formerly the largest city of, for the point, what country governed from Damascus? | Syrian Arab Republic (accept Al Jumhuriyah al Arabiyah as Suriyah) |
| It's not California, but this U.S. state's San Francisco Peaks contain a snowbowl on the slopes of Humphreys Peak. This state's Skeleton Canyon was the location of Geronimo's surrender in 1886, which marked the defeat of the Apache Tribe. This state's saguaro [[suh- WAHR-oh]] cactus grows in the Sonoran Desert, which includes Tucson. For the point, name this U.S. state that contains the Grand Canyon. | Arizona |
| This country's San Alfonso del Mar was the world's largest swimming pool when it was completed 18 miles north of the Maipo River. Alexander Selkirk's desertion on this country's Juan Fernandez Islands led him to write Robinson Crusoe. Ports in this country include Iquique [[ee-KWEE-kay]] and Punta Arenas. Valparaíso is contained within, for the point, what country with a long, skinny border with Argentina? | Republic of Chile (accept Republica de Chile) |
| Saimaa [[SY-muh]] is the largest of this country's 187,000 lakes. Along with Estonia and Hungary, this nation is one of the three in Europe that speaks a Uralic language. This country's city of Rovaniemi is nicknamed "Santa Claus Village," and it is the capital of Lapland, which is home to many saunas. For the point, name this country that contains Espoo and Helsinki. | Republic of Finland (accept Suomi; accept Suomen tasavalta; accept Republiken Finland) |
| This province's only international land boundary is the Height of Land Portage, located between the Pigeon and Rainy watersheds. This province's Georgian Bay is guarded by Manitoulin Island, the world's largest within a lake. This province administers the western half of Horseshoe Falls, and it contains the CN Tower. For the point, name this most populous province of Canada. | Ontario |
| This country's Wieliczka [[wuh-LEECH-kuh]] Salt Mine includes a carved rendition of The Last Supper and St. Kinga's Shaft. This country divided into voivodeships has Gdynia [[guh-DEEN-ee-yuh]] as its largest port, which forms a metropolitan area with Gdansk, the center of the 1980's "Solidarity" movement. Bordering Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast with Lithuania, this is, for the point, what country home to Krakow and Warsaw? | Republic of Poland (accept Rzeczpospolita Polska) |
| This city's Point Loma Peninsula is home to the Cabrillo [[kah-BREE-yoh]] National Monument. This city hosts the annual Comic-Con convention, and this city's Balboa Park contains a zoo with the largest koala colony outside of Australia. Lying across the U.S.- Mexico border from the city of Tijuana, this is, for the point, what city in Southern California, the state's second-largest after Los Angeles? | San Diego |
| In an article for Wired, William Gibson called this country "Disneyland with the Death Penalty." This country's Marina Bay area is home to a spiral-shaped footbridge named The Helix. Since 1992, this country has held a partial ban on chewing gum as part of an urban cleanliness campaign. For the point, name this Southeast Asian city-state on an island near the southern end of the Malay Peninsula. | Singapore |
| Two of this country's "Auspicious Beasts'' include the Vermillion Bird of the South and the Black Tortoise of the North. The Loess [[low-ESS]] Plateau of this nation has such erodible soil that 830,000 people died in this country's 1556 Shaanxi [[SHAWN-see]] earthquake. This largest country to use a single time zone controls the Uyghur [[WEE-gurr]] Autonomous Region. For the point, name this country where Mandarin is spoken. | People's Republic of China (accept PRC; accept Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo; accept historical terms for China like Cathay or the Middle Kingdom; do not accept the "Republic of China;" do not accept "Taiwan") |
| An Armani hotel operates in the lower 39 floors of this building from which the Tunb Islands are visible on clear days. Muslims observing Ramadan at the top of this building must fast for four minutes longer than Muslims at sea level. This building was designed by Adrian Smith, who was inspired by the Great Mosque of Samarra. For the point, identify this tallest building in the world, located in Dubai. | Burj Khalifa (accept Burj Dubai before "Dubai" is mentioned) |
| Contrary to popular belief, the nearby Adirondack Mountains are not part of this range. Mount Mitchell is the highest point in this mountain range that also includes Grandfather Mountain and Cold Mountain. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is part of this mountain's Blue Ridge province. For the point, name this mountain range in the northeast US that gives its name to a famous trail. | Appalachian Mountains (accept Appalachian Trail after mentioned) |
| This sea, home to the islands of Rugen and Bornholm, is separated from is northernmost arm by the Archipelago Sea that contains thousands of islands west of Turku. This sea that receives the Oder River was controlled by the Hanseatic League with the North Sea in the 1400s. For the point, name this sea of northern Europe, home to the ports of Helsinki and St. Petersburg. | Baltic Sea |
| This country is home to the cave with the largest cross-section in the world, the Son Doong Cave. This country's former capital of Hue is bisected by the Perfume River. The Bach Dang River discharges into Ha Long Bay in this country that forms the western shores of the Gulf of Tonkin. The mouth of the Mekong River begins in, for the point, what southeast Asian country home to the city of Hanoi? | Socialist Republic of Vietnam (or Cong Hoa Xa Hoi Chu Nghia Viet Nam; or SRV) |
| This island administers Roosevelt Island, which is connected by one of two commuter tramways in the United States. This city's Battery Park neighborhood contains Stuyvesant High School, which is named after the last governor of New Netherland. Streets on this island's grid system include Lexington, Park, and 5th Avenues. For the point, name this island that forms New York's urban core. | Manhattan (prompt on "New York" or "New York City") |
| Two answers required. These two cities served by the distant Southend and Beauvais Airports were the subject of a proposed connection via the Metropolitan Line. Today, these two cities are connected by a service between St Pancras International and Gare du Nord called the Eurostar, which travels via the Chunnel. For the point, name these two cities that contain Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower. | London and Paris (accept in either order; prompt on a single answer) |
| The mayor of this country's city of Batman sued Warner Brothers in 2008 for "stealing" his city's name. This country is home to Lake Van, and it uses the Lira as its currency. This country contains the ruins of the Greek city of Ephesus, and its Cape Baba is Asia's westernmost point on the Aegean Sea. For the point, name this Eurasian country that contains the cities Ankara and Istanbul. | Republic of Turkey (accept Turkiye Cumhuriyeti) |
| This country's interior is dominated by the plateau Meseta Central. This country contains the Ebro River, and this country's autonomous communities include Galicia, Aragon, and Catalonia. This country's archipelagic territories include the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. For the point, name this Iberian country home to the cities of Barcelona and Madrid. | Kingdom of Spain (or Reino de España) |