Santa's Sat Nav Trivia Quiz

Answer: South-west

Brazil is south-west of Iceland. Directly south is the west coast of Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. Santa needs to go a little west to reach Brazil.

Brazil has an area of 8, 514, 877 square kilometres, so Santa's got a lot of ground to cover! It is the largest country in South America by land area. Fortunately, 60% of Brazil is covered by rainforests, and monkeys and parrots don't normally have Christmas presents.

Answer: North-west

If Santa went north-east, he'd end up in Liberia, Sierra-Leone, or one of the other countries on the north-west coast of Africa. South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are south of Brazil. Almost every country in South America borders Brazil, but the ones bordering it on the western side are Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.

This must mean that Santa has to go north-west to the USA!

Answer: West

Sometimes I think we're so used to seeing world maps where the Americas are on the left, Asia is on the right, and Africa is roughly in the middle, that we forget that the countries actually fit onto a sphere. The shortest distance from the west coast of America to Japan is to the west.

Greenland and Iceland are north-east of the USA, and to the south-west are Australia and New Zealand.

Answer: South-east

The Republic of Vanuatu is a Pacific Island nation to the east of Australia. It gained independence from France and the UK in 1980.

If Santa went west out of Japan, he'd end up in either China, North Korea, or South Korea. North of Japan is Russia and to the north-west is a bit more of Russia, and all of Alaska.

Answer: West

North of Vanuatu is nothing but the Pacific Ocean for miles and miles, until you get to Russia. To the north-west is Japan and China, and south-west is the southern coast of Australia.

December is the middle of the wet season in Mozambique, so Santa and his team got a little wet. Thankfully they didn't run into any cyclones, though. I don't know what Rudolph was trying to give the lions as a present, but he had to make a quick getaway! It's lucky he can fly! Onwards and upwards...

Answer: North

Mozambique is on the east coast of Africa and Ukraine is in Europe, so Santa definitely needs to travel north. Ukraine is directly north of Mozambique, though there are quite a few countries in between: Tanzania, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, to name a few. To the east of Mozambique are Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Zambia. To the west is Madagascar across the Mozambique Channel.

Answer: South-east

Over the Himalayas they go! Nepal is in Asia, south-east of Ukraine. Because of its different altitudes, Nepal has five climactic zones ranging from tropical to Arctic. The Himalayan mountain range forms a barrier between the cold winds of central Asia, and the monsoons of southern Asia.

Answer: North-east

Mongolia is the 'Land of the Eternal Blue Sky' because it has more than 250 days of sun within one year. (Rudolph was disappointed when he turned up at night and it was dark.)

Nepal and Mongolia are separated by China. They're about 2500km apart.

Answer: South-west

Both Mongolia and Rwanda are land-locked countries, but they're on two different continents: Mongolia is in Asia and Rwanda is in Africa. They're considerably different in size, too. Rwanda would fit into Mongolia 59 times with room left over!

The elves have helped Santa with the Rwandan gifts and are looking at the route again...

Answer: North-west

Rwanda is in the southern hemisphere and Guatemala is the northern hemisphere, so the reindeer need to travel a little northward, even though it's not by much. Burundi is south of Rwanda and Tanzania is south-east. Uganda is in the north.

Guatemala is prone to natural disasters. There are regular hurricanes, which also lead to flooding and mudslides. The country is on the Montagua Fault line, as well. Three of its 37 volcanoes erupted within the first two decades of the 21st century. Rudolph wasn't keen to stick around!

Where will Santa and his team go next?