Geography of Senegal





Senegal is a coastal West African nation located 14 degrees north of the equator and 14 degrees west of the Prime Meridian. The country's total area is 196,190 km2 of which 192,000 km2 is land and 4,190 km2 is water.

70% of the population of Senegal lives in the Coastal Region, so climate change is expected to displace larger parts of the population.

CIA World Factbook

 * Area:
 * Total: 196,712 km²
 * country rank in the world: 86th
 * Land: 192,530 km²
 * Water: 4,180 km²


 * Area comparative
 * Australia comparative: approximately $6⁄7$ the size of Victoria
 * Canada comparative: approximately 2$3⁄4$ times the size of New Brunswick
 * United Kingdom comparative: approximately $4⁄5$ the size of the United Kingdom
 * United States comparative: slightly smaller than South Dakota
 * EU comparative: approximately 1$1⁄2$ times the size of Greece

Terrain: generally low, rolling, plains rising to foothills in the southeast.

Natural resources: fish, phosphates, iron ore

Land use: arable land: 19.57% permanent crops: 0.28% other: 80.15% (2011)

Irrigated land: 1,197 km2 (2003)

Total renewable water resources: 38.8 km3

Natural hazards: lowlands seasonally flooded; periodic droughts

Environment — current issues: wildlife populations threatened by poaching; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; overfishing

Senegal is a party to several environmental treaties:
 * Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
 * Convention on Biological Diversity
 * Convention on Fishing and Conservation of Living Resources of the High Seas
 * Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna
 * International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling
 * Montreal Protocol
 * United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
 * United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
 * United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
 * Ramsar Convention
 * 1978 Convention on Ship Pollution

Senegal has signed, but not ratified, the Convention on Marine Dumping.

Physical features
Senegal is bordered to the west by the North Atlantic Ocean. On land, the nation's longest border is with Mauritania to the north, an 813 km border along the Senegal River. To the east is the 419 km border with Mali. In the southeast is Guinea (330 km border) and to the south-southwest is Guinea-Bissau (338 km), both borders running along the Casamance River. Senegal is one of only a handful of countries to have a near-enclave within its borders&mdash;the small nation of the Gambia in the interior, which has a 740 km border with Senegal.

The Gambia penetrates more than 320 km into Senegal, from the Atlantic coast to the center of Senegal along the Gambia River, which bisects Senegal's territory. In total, Senegal has 2,640 km of land borders, and 531 km of coastline and shoreline. Senegal makes maritime claims of a 24 nmi contiguous zone, a 12 nmi territorial sea, and a 370 km exclusive economic zone. It also claims a 200 nmi continental shelf, or to the edge of the continental margin.

Another distinctive and well-known feature of the country is the pink-water Lake Retba, near the city of Dakar, which is one of the few lakes in the world with naturally pink or reddish coloured water.

The lowest point in Senegal is the Atlantic Ocean, at sea level. The highest point is Baunez ridge situated 2.7 km southeast of Nepen Diakha at 648 m.

Climate
Senegal has three main climatic regions. The southern portion, south of The Gambia, has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) with two extremely contrasting seasons from northeast winter winds, including the dry dusty harmattan, and southwest summer winds. Annual rainfall in this region can reach 1800 mm on the southern border, with as much as 600 mm in August at the height of the wet season, and virtually no rainfall from November to May. The central portion has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh) with similar seasons to the south, but with a less rainy and highly variable wet season. Dakar's annual rainfall of about 400 mm occurs between June and October when maximum temperatures average 30 °C and minimums 24.2 °C; December to February maximum temperatures average 25.7 °C and minimums 18 °C.

The extreme north in the valley of the Senegal River has a hot arid climate (BWh) with a wet season largely confined to August and September and very high year-to-year variability with complete failure of the wet season not rare. Interior temperatures are higher than along the coast. For example, average daily temperatures in Kaolack and Tambacounda for May are 30 °C and 32.7 °C respectively, compared to Dakar's 23.2 °C., In the far interior of the country, in the region of Tambacounda, particularly on the border of Mali, temperatures can reach as high as 54 °C.

Ecology
Senegal has a number of vegetation zones: sahel, Sahel-Sudan, Sudan (region), Sudan-Guinea, tropical rainforest, and Guinean mangroves. Most of the southern Casamance arm of the country has been classified by the World Wildlife Fund as part of the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic ecoregion.

See also:.
 * Vegetation zones of Senegal 2
 * Vegetation zones of Senegal 3

Extreme points
This is a list of the extreme points of Senegal, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.


 * Northernmost — unnamed location on the border with Mauritania in the Senegal river immediately north-west of the town of Podor, Saint-Louis Region
 * Easternmost — unnamed location on the border with Mali near the confluence of the Balin-Ko river and the Falémé River, Kédougou Region
 * Southernmost — unnamed location on the border with Guinea immediately south of the village of Toile, Kédougou Region
 * Westernmost — Pointe des Almadies, Cap Vert peninsula, Dakar Region*
 * *Note: this is also the westernmost point of the mainland African continent