Geography

Burkina Faso is a relatively flat country (with a very few localised exceptions); the average altitude is 400 metres (1,300 ft) and the difference between the highest and lowest terrain is no greater than 600 metres (2,000 ft).

Burkina Faso is made up of two major types of countryside:

The larger part of the country is covered by a peneplain which forms a gently undulating landscape with, in some areas, a few isolated hills, the last vestiges of a precambrian massif.
The south-west of the country forms a sandstone massif, where the highest peak is found: Ténakourou (749 m or 2,450 ft). The massif is bordered by sheer cliffs up to 150 metres (490 ft) high.

The country owed its former name of Upper Volta to three rivers that cross it:

the Nazinon (the Red Volta)
the Nakambé (the White Volta)
the Mouhoun (formerly called the Black Volta)

The Mouhoun, along with the Comoé which flows to the south west, is the country's only river that flows year-round. The basin of the Niger River also drains 27% of the country's surface. Its tributaries (the Béli, the Gorouol, the Goudébo and the Dargol) are seasonal streams, and only flow for 4 to 6 months a year but can cause large floods.