The Republic of the Ivory Coast, on the south coast of the western bulge of Africa, is bordered to the north by Mali and Burkina Faso, to the east by Ghana, to the south the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean and to the west by Liberia and Guinea.
Except for the prolongation of the Guinea Highlands in the northwest (from Man to Odienne), with peaks rising to 4000 and 5,000ft, the most part the Ivory Coast is vast plateau, tilted gently towards the Atlantic. It is drained by four major rivers running roughly parallel from north to south, the Cavally (on the Liberian frontier), Sassandra, Bandama and Comoe. They are not of much value for transportation as they are sluggish in the dry season, broken by numerous falls and rapids and subject to torrential flooding in the rains.