Geography and Environment of Togo

Togo, a country of 21,853 square miles, stretches 370 miles from north to south and averages 56 miles in width. Lagoons cross the country to the southeast, separating the mile-wide sandbar along the Bight of Benin from the geographical mainland. To the southwest a low plateau gradually rises, followed by a southwest-northeast mountain range that is from 2,300 to 3,300 feet high. Another plateau lies to the north of the mountain chain, and beyond that, high hills rise in the northeast. An open savanna then unfolds and extends to the Burkina Faso border. Togo has no navigable rivers, but several rivers have the potential for irrigation, which the Togolese are beginning to exploit. The country’s most fertile areas are in and around the mountain range; the northern savannas are the poorest. Savanna-type vegetation dominates. Large trees, including the baobab, common in the south, are rarer in the north. Mangrove and reed swamps dot the coastal region, and coconut plantations grow along the sea. Some deer, antelope, buffalo, warthogs, and hippopotamuses roam the north, and hippos and crocodiles can be found in the southeast. Togo's most common animal life includes monkeys, snakes, lizards, and birds. There are protected forest game preserves at Fazoa and Keran, in the central and savanna regions.

Detailed geography