Geography of Togo



Togo is a small Sub-Saharan state, comprising a long strip of land in West Africa. Togo's geographic coordinates are a latitude of 8° north and a longitude of 1°10′ east. It is bordered by three countries: Benin to the east, with 644 km of border; Burkina Faso to the north, with 126 km of border; and Ghana, with 877 km of border. To the south Togo has 56 km of coastline along the Bight of Benin of the Gulf of Guinea in the North Atlantic Ocean. Togo stretches 579 km north from the Gulf and is only 160 km wide at the broadest point. In total, Togo has an area of 56785 km2, of which 54385 km2 is land and 2400 km2 is water.

Togo is commonly divided into six geographic regions. In the south are low-lying sandy beaches. The coastal region is narrow and followed by tidal flats and shallow lagoons. There are also over 200 lakes, the largest of which is Lake Togo.

Area statistics

 * Area:
 * Total: 56,785 km²
 * country rank in the world: 123rd
 * Land: 54,390 km²
 * Water: 2,400 km²


 * Area comparative
 * Australia comparative: approximately $5⁄6$ the size of Tasmania
 * Canada comparative: approximately equal in size to Nova Scotia
 * United Kingdom comparative: approximately four times the size of Northern Ireland
 * United States comparative: approximately $1⁄10$ smaller than West Virginia
 * EU comparative: approximately equal in size to Croatia

Land use

 * Natural resources: phosphates, limestone, marble, arable land
 * Land use:
 * arable land: 44.2%
 * permanent crops: 3.7%
 * other: 52.1% (2011)
 * Irrigated land: 73 km2 (2003)
 * Total renewable water resources: 14.7 km2
 * Natural hazards: hot, dry Harmattan wind can reduce visibility in north during winter; periodic droughts.

Physical geography
The country consists primarily of two savanna plains regions separated by a southwest–northeast range of hills (the Chaîne du Togo). In the north lies the Ouatchi Plateau. This plateau is about 30 km wide and located at an altitude of 60 to 90 m above sea level. Terre de Barre is another name for this region, in use because of the reddish leached soil which is rich in iron. This southern area of Togo has been categorised by the World Wildlife Fund as part of the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic ecoregion.

Northeast of the Ouatchi Plateau lies a tableland. At its highest this region is about 500 m above sea level. The area is drained by the Mono River and its tributaries, including the Ogou River.

To the west and the southwest of the tableland lie the Togo Mountains. These mountains run across the central region of Togo, ranging from the southwest to the northeast. The mountain range reaches into Benin where it is known as the Atakora Mountains and Ghana where it is known as the Akwapim Hills. The highest mountain in Togo is Mount Agou with a height of 986 m.

North of the Togo Mountains lies a sandstone plateau through which the Oti River flows. The vegetation is characterized by savanna. The River Oti which drains the plateau is one of the main tributaries of the River Volta.

In the far northwest of Togo lies a higher region which is characterized by its rocks: granite and gneiss. The cliffs of Dapaong (Dapango) are located in this part of Togo.

Climate
Almost all of Togo has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw). Average temperatures ranging from 27.5 °C on the coast to about 30 °C in the northernmost regions. There is a dry season between November and March dominated by the desert winds of the Harmattan, which bring less humid and less unpleasant weather. To the south there are two seasons of rain, the first between April and July and the second weaker rainy season between September and November. In this region rainfall is much lower than in the rest of southern West Africa due to divergent coast-parallel winds between mid-July and mid-September creating a short, foggy secondary dry season.

Environment
Current issues:
 * deforestation attributable to slash-and-burn agriculture and the use of wood for fuel
 * health hazards and impact on the fishing industry from water pollution
 * air pollution increasing in urban areas

Togo is party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution (MARPOL 73/78), Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling

Extreme points
This is a list of the extreme points of Togo, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.
 * Northernmost point – the tripoint with Ghana and Burkina Faso, Savanes Region
 * Easternmost point – unnamed location on the border with Benin in the Mono River immediately west of the Beninese town of Grand-Popo, Maritime Region
 * Southernmost point – the point at which the border with Ghana enters the Atlantic Ocean, Maritime Region
 * Westernmost point - a point about 2.5 km south-southwest of the tripoint with Ghana and Burkina Faso, Savanes Region