Ghana - Geography

The Republic of Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast, is a West African country lying on the Gulf of Guinea. It is surrounded (clockwise, from the west) by Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo. Ghana has ten regions: Greater Accra, Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Central, Eastern, Northern, Upper East, Upper West, Volta and Western. After Greater Accra, Ashanti is the most populated region; Upper West, the least.

Area:238,537 sq km

Main towns:Accra (capital, pop. 2.77m in 2006), Kumasi (Ashanti, 1,535,500), Tamale (Northern, 375,400), Takoradi (Western, 246,400), Tema (Greater Accra, 230,900), Cape Coast (Central, 148,500), Sekondi (Western, 144,300), Obuasi (Ashanti, 142,700), Koforidua (Eastern, 98,100), Wa (Upper West, 80,572), Techiman (Brong Ahafo, 72,800), Sunyani (Brong Ahafo, 72,000), Ho (Volta, 71,700), Bawku (Upper East, 57,900), Bolgatanga (Upper East, 55,500).

Topography:The Black Volta, Red Volta and White Volta rivers merge into one river Volta, which has been dammed at Akosombo to form Lake Volta (approximately 8,482 sq km). There are hills to the north (averaging 500m), but the country is generally flat. The central forest area is broken up into ridges and valleys. There are lagoons on the coast, and many sandy beaches with coconut trees.

Climate:Tropical; warm and fairly dry in northern areas, hot and humid on the coastal belt. Temperatures usually range between 21°C and 32°C. Annual rainfall varies from 700mm to 2,150mm. In 2007, large parts of West Africa were the subject of severe flooding. Ghana was the worst hit with more than 300,000 of its people made homeless.

Environment:The most significant environmental issues are deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion; drought in the north; poaching and habitat destruction threatening wildlife populations; and water pollution and inadequate supplies of drinking water.

Vegetation:Grass occurs on much of the central plain, dense rainforest in the south and west; woodland and dry savannah to the north. Forest covers 24% of the land area, having declined at 1.7% p.a. 1990–2005. Arable land comprises 18% and permanent cropland 10% of the total land area.

Wildlife:Ghana is rich in animal life and had in 2003 protected areas comprising 5.6% of the total land area. The Mole National Park comprises some 736 sq km in the western part of the northern region of Damonoyo and has many species including elephants, hippos, eagles, kites and hornbills. The Digya National Park on the shores of Lake Volta has hippos, water buck, crocodiles and manatees. There are 222 species of mammals, 14 of which are endangered, and 206 species of birds, eight endangered.

Transport:There are 47,790km of roads, 18% paved, and a 977km railway network, connecting Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi, originally built mainly to link mining centres to the ports but also provides passenger services.

Main ports are at Tema, near Accra, and Takoradi, and the main international airport is at Accra (Kotoka), 10km to the north of the city; other airports are at Takoradi, Kumasi, Sunyani and Tamale.