Geography and Environment of Senegal

The Republic of Senegal is located on the bulge of West Africa and covers 196,000 square kilometers (76,000 square miles). The independent, English-speaking state of The Gambia, straddling the Gambia River, is a fingerlike enclave that protrudes more than 200 miles into Senegal. Averaging less than 650 feet in elevation, Senegal is mostly flat or rolling plains with savanna-type vegetation. In the southeast, however, plateaus 1640 feet high form the foothills of the Fouta-Djallon Mountains. Marshy swamps interspersed with tropical rain forests are common in the southwest. North of Dakar on the Cap Vert Peninsula, the coast forms almost a straight line; farther south it is indented by many estuaries and is often marshy. Four major rivers, The Senegal, Saloum, Gambia, and Casamance, flow almost parallel from east to west and each are navigable for a good distance inland.

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