Introduction To Ghana, The Gold Coast Of Africa

Ghana is situated on the southern coast of the West African bulge and is bordered to the east by Togo, to the west by the Ivory Coast, to the south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and northwest by Burkina Fasso.

The coastline consists mostly of a low sandy, foreshore behind which stretches the coastal plain, except in the west where the forest comes down to the sea. The forest belt, which extends northward from the western coast and then eastward into Ashanti for about 170 miles, is broken up into heavily wooded hills and steep ridges. North of the forest is undulating savanna drained by the Black Volta and White Volta rivers, which join and flow south to the sea through a narrow gap in the hills. Ghana's highest point is 2,9000 feet in a range of hills on the eastern border. Apart from the Volta, only the Pra and the Ankobra rivers permanently pierce the sand dunes, most of the other rivers terminate in brackish lagoons. There are no natural harbours.

 

 

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Introduction To Nigeria Known As Small Africa Nigeria is situated at the extreme inner corner of the Gulf of Guinea on the west coast of Africa. It borders with Chad to the northeast, Cameroon to the east, Benin to the west, Niger to the northwest and by the Atlantic Ocean (Gulf of Guinea) to the south. Along the entire coastline of Nigeria lies a belt of mangrove swamp forest from 10 to 60 miles in width, which is intersected by branches of the Niger Delta and innumerable other smaller rivers and creeks. Beyond the swamp forest is a zone, from 50 to 100 miles wide, of undulating tropical rain forest. The country then rises to a plateau at a general elevation of 2,000 ft but reaching 6,000 ft to the east, and the vegetation changes from woodland to savannah. In the extreme north, the country approaches the southern part of the Sahara. The Niger, the third largest river in Africa, enters Nigeria from the Northwest and runs in a southeasterly direction, meeting its principal tributary, the Benue, at Lokoja, about 340 miles from the sea. It then flows south to the Delta, through which it runs into the Gulf of Guinea via numerous channels. Other main tributaries of the Niger are the Sokoto and Kaduna rivers. The second great drainage system of Nigeria flows north and east from the central plateau and empties into Lake Chad.   Introduction To South Africa Known As The Voice Of Africa, The People's Country South Africa lies at the southernmost part of the African continent. It is bordered to the north by Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the northeast by Mozambique and Swaziland and to the northwest by Namibia. On the east coastline lies the Indian Ocean, the Southern coastline the confluence of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, and Atlantic Ocean on the western side. South Africa completely surrounds Lesotho. Most of South Africa has elevations of over 914m (3,000 ft) and at least 40% of the surface is at an elevation of over 1,220m (4,000 ft). Parts of Johannesburg are 1,829m (6,000 ft) above sea level. Resembling an inverted saucer, the land rises steadily from west to east to the Drakensberg Mountains, the tallest of which is Mont-aux-Sources at 3,300m (10,823 ft). The coastal belt in the west and south varies from 3 to 30 miles in width, is between 152m (500ft) to 182m (600ft) above sea level, and is very fertile, producing citrus fruits and grapes, particularly in the Western Cape. North of the coastal belt stretch, the Little and the Great Karoo, which are bounded by mountains, lie higher than the coastal belt, and are semi-arid to arid, merging into sandy wastes that ultimately join the Kalahari Desert. The high grass prairie, or veld, of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal is famous for its mineral deposits,. From Drakensberg, the land falls towards the Indian Ocean in the rolling hills and valleys of Natal, which are covered with rich vegetation and, near the coast, subtropical plants, including sugarcane.