Geography of Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) is a landlocked Sahel country that shares borders with six nations. It lies between the Sahara desert and the Gulf of Guinea, south of the loop of the Niger River, mostly between latitudes 9° and 15°N (a small area is north of 15°), and longitudes 6°W and 3°E. The land is green in the south, with forests and fruit trees, and semi-arid in the north. Most of central Burkina Faso lies on a savanna plateau, 198–305 metres (650–1,001 ft) above sea level, with fields, brush, and scattered trees. Burkina Faso's game preserves – the most important of which are Arly, Nazinga, and W National Park—contain lions, elephants, hippopotamus, monkeys, common warthogs, and antelopes. Previously the endangered painted hunting dog, Lycaon pictus occurred in Burkina Faso, but, although the last sightings were made in Arli National Park, the species is considered extirpated from Burkina Faso.

Area

Burkina Faso has a total area of 274,200 km2 (105,870 sq mi), of which 273,800 km2 (105,710 sq mi) is land and 400 km2 (150 sq mi) water. Comparatively, it is slightly larger than New Zealand and Colorado. Its borders total 3,611 kilometres (2,244 mi): Benin 386 kilometres (240 mi), Ivory Coast 545 kilometres (339 mi), Ghana 602 kilometres (374 mi), Mali 1,325 kilometres (823 mi), Niger 622 kilometres (386 mi), and Togo 131 kilometres (81 mi). It has no coastline or maritime claims.

Extreme points

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