One fifth of Brits believe it ‘never’ rains in Africa

LONDON - One fifth of Britons live under the impression that it never rains in Africa and funny but true, one in eight imagine that rainforests are in Greenland, says a new survey.

Almost half of UK residents also unwittingly claimed it rarely snows anywhere in France, despite the French Alps attracting millions of skiers each winter.

The poll conducted by Sunshine.co.uk, an online travel agent, on 1726 respondents, revealed common geographical misconceptions and ignorance about foreign climate.

More than 70 per cent of respondents incorrectly stated it was always hot in the Sahara Desert, rather temperatures at night often drop below freezing, and 17 per cent said there were no volcanoes on the Canary Islands.

When asked to specify the characteristics of a monsoon season, 1 in 10 people said it was a time when birds migrate south for winter, while 68 per cent thought there has never been a tornado in Britain.

“Having carried out previous research into the misconceptions of people in the UK, we were keen to look into how knowledgeable people were of climates in other countries around the world,” the Telegraph quoted Chris Brown, co-founder of Sunshine.co.uk, as saying. (ANI)