Ghana covers 238,540 km² of land including water bodies. Its geographic coordinates are 800 N, 200 W. By comparison, Ghana is about the size of Britain. Sharing borders with Burkina Faso to the north, Ivory Coast (west), Togo to the east, and is bathed by the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. Ghana is a land of plains and low plateaus with a blend of many lagoons, streams, and rivers. The coastal belt is the lowest point of Ghana at 0 meters with a length of 539 Km and mostly sandy. The Greater Accra Region is the capital bordered on the north by the Eastern Region, on the east by the Volta Region, on the south by the Gulf of Guinea, and on the west by the Central Region. The Northern Region used to be the largest until recent two other regions Savannah Region and North East Regions were carved from it. It bordered on the south by the Oti region also carved out of the Volta region. Upper West Region of Ghana is located in the north-western corner of Ghana and is bordered by Upper East region to the east. The Ashanti kingdom is centrally located in the middle belt of Ghana. The region shares boundaries with, Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo Regions in the north, Eastern region in the east, Central region in the south and Western region in the Southwest.
Mount Afadjato, is the highest point of Ghana measuring at about 880 meters above sea level. Ghana has a number of thick forests, lakes, streams and a number of rivers. Two major rivers - the Nakambe River(White Volta) and Mouhoun River(the Black Volta) flow from Burkina Faso into Ghana. These two "Voltas" meet to form the huge Volta Lake the world's largest artificial lake. Lake Volta can be located in the Volta Region. Covering an estimated surface area of 3,283 square miles and 62 feet at average depth. The lake generates electricity, provides inland transportation and is a potentially valuable resource for irrigation and fish farming. The Volta Lake stretches from the Akosombo Dam in south-eastern Ghana to the town of Yapei, 520 km (325 mi.) to the north, and enters the sea at Ada.
There are other bigger lakes like Bosumtwi in the Ashanti Region which is the second biggest in the country covering an estimated surface area of 19 square miles. It has a maximum length of 5.3 miles and 5.0 miles in width with an average depth of 148 feet.
Other rivers in Ghana: River Densu Bia River, Tano River, Nini River, Ankobra River, Pra River,Ofin River, Birim River, Anum River,Ayensu River,Volta River, Todzie River and Afram River just to mention a few.
Ghana's low coastline is backed by plains and shrubs which is mostly sandy having a tropical rain forest belt near the Ivory Coast frontier extending northward from the shore which are characterised by a number of streams and rivers and heavily forested hills. This part of the country produces most of the economic resources like cocoa, timber and the earth minerals.
Climate
Ghana is only a few degrees north of the Equator, its climate is tropical. Climatic conditions across the country are not uniform. The extent of drought and rainfall varies across the country. Generally, Ghana has two seasons the wet and dry season. Ghana experiences it raining seasons from about April through late June. Just after August which is generally dry another rainy season begins in September and lasts through November. From January to April, a longer harmattan season set in. The harmattan period always comes with a drop in humidity with the north experiencing much hotter day and cooler nights than the other regions. The southern part of Ghana is the rainiest with the southwest corner having the heaviest in the sub where it reaches 2,000 mm (80 in) per year. The northern savanna, The driest areas receives rainfall of around 1,000 mm (40 in) per year. The lower Volta region, Accra plains, including Takoradi rainfall averages drops below 800 mm (31.5 in).
All year round temperature is usually high throughout the country with the northern part recording the highest. Ghana has a mean temperature between 26°C and 29°C. At mountainous areas temperatures are a bit low and conducive. In the north temperature as high as 31°C are prevalent while humidity can drops as low as 25 during the harmattan season. For the southern part of the country during the night hour humidity of 95 to 100 percent are common. But generally, the south is humid.
