With the summer season sometimes comes summer travels. It’s common for families to take advantage of the nice weather and visit different places for a long-needed vacation. These can be trips around the world, or closer to home. This summer, take a virtual trip to one of the 7 world continents.
Start your travels close to home by visiting North America. You and your family are planning a road trip. You want to start from the most northerly country to the most southernly. Using a map of North America, list the following countries from most northerly to most southernly.
Moving south, plan a trip along the Amazon River in South America. The Amazon River is perhaps the most famous river in the world! It is long, wide and full of many different species of freshwater creatures. Conduct some research on the Amazon River. Use the questions below as a guide. Share your findings with a friend.
a) How long is the Amazon?
b) Which countries does it flow through?
c) Which large body of water does it flow into?
d) How often does the Amazon flood the area around it?
Answers: a) Length: approx. 4000 miles; b) Brazil, etc.; c) Atlantic Ocean; d) yearly
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean, we arrive in Africa. Many people plan African safari trips to view the land and its animals. Unfortunately, poaching has rendered many of these animals in danger of extinction. In response, African governments have created game reserves to help protect these endangered animals. Locate a game reserve in Africa and create a travel brochure for it. Pretend that you and your family are going on a safari to the reserve. What would you see? What kinds of animals are there? How would you travel there, inside the game reserve? What would you need to bring with you? Illustrate your brochure, and include as many facts as you can. Include a map of its location to help find your way!
Moving north, plan a backpacking trip through Europe. This continent is possibly the most diverse one. Several different countries with their own culture and language call this continent their home. It’s very common for people to backpack throughout Europe. This is because the countries are small and close together, making travel between them easy to do. Look at a transportation map of Europe and research rail travel on the web. When collecting your facts, think of these points:
• Which countries rely heavily on road travel?
• Where are some famous train stations located?
• Is rail travel more expensive than driving? Which is faster?
Share your findings with a friend in the form of a short essay. Use each question as the topic for a paragraph.
Moving east, you enter the largest and most spacious continent—Asia. There are many different regions that make up Asia. This is because it is so big and covers so many different geographical regions. Planning a trip to Asia can take you from the Desert to the Mountains to the Coast. Use a map of Asia to find and label the following regions in Asia. When you have finished, collect one key point about each region and add it to your map.
Ural Mountains Arabian Desert Gobi Desert
Malabar Coast Himalayas mountain range Kashmir
North China Plain Anatolia Caucasus
West Siberian Plain Plateau of Tibet Mekong Delta
On a landform all on its own sits Australia. It doesn’t share a border with any other country. Because it is an island continent, there are many unique wildlife species in Australia. Plan a trip to visit the unique wildlife that inhabits this continent. Try to find at least one unique example of each of the following kinds of wildlife. You may also choose to include as many species examples as you can.
Answers: Possible species: mammal: kangaroo; bird: emu; reptile: goanna; fish: butterflyfish; spider: Australian lungless spider
At the southernmost tip of the world sits Antarctica. What’s unique about this continent is there are no permanent habitants, other than the wildlife. The only people on this continent are scientists. Plan a trip to the South Pole. The South Pole is located near the center of Antarctica. Many explorers tried to be the first to reach it. Who did reach the South Pole first? What other explorers have journeyed to Antarctica? Research these explorers, and complete the chart using the information you have found. Follow in their footsteps!
Answers: Possible answers: Ernest Shackleton / England / NO / --- / climbed Mt. Erebus, died while exploring; Roald Amundsen / Norway / YES / 1911 / also explored the North Pole; etc.
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