(900 mm) of rain a year and has cooler average temperatures.

The Sudan-Guinea zone farther to the south, which receives more than 35 in.The Sudan-Sahel region, a transitional zone with regards to rainfall and temperature.A relatively dry tropical savanna, the Sahel extends beyond the borders of Burkina Faso, from the Horn of Africa to the Atlantic Ocean, and borders the Sahara to its north, and the fertile region of the Sudan to the south. The Sahel Zone in the north, which typically receives less than 24 in.Three major climatic zones can be defined: Tourism is not well developed.Д«urkina Faso has a primarily tropical climate with two very distinct seasons: the rainy season, which lasts approximately four months (May/June to September), and the dry season during which the harmattan blows, a hot dry wind from the Sahara. The country's game preserves - the most important of which are Arly, Nazinga, and W National Park - contain lions, elephants, hippopotamus, monkeys, warthogs, and antelopes. Still, droughts are often a problem, especially in the north. The country also contains numerous lakes. Its tributaries are seasonal streams, flowing for four to six months a year, but can cause floods. The basin of the Niger River also drains 27 percent of the country's surface. The Mouhoun, along with the ComoГ© that flows to the southwest, is the country's only river to flow year-round. The country owed its former name of Upper Volta to three rivers that cross it: the Mouhoun (formerly called the Black Volta), the NakambГ© (the White Volta), and the Nazinon (the Red Volta). Burkina Faso is therefore a relatively flat country, with a very few localized exceptions. The difference between the highest and lowest terrain is no greater than 2,000В ft (600 m). The southwest forms a sandstone massif, where the highest peak is found: TГ©nakourou, 2,450 ft (749 m). Most of the country is a gently undulating landscape with a few isolated hills. The land is green in the south, with forests and fruit trees, and desert in the north. It lies between the Sahara Desert and the Gulf of Guinea, south of the loop of the Niger River. Despite the greater political stability, Burkina Faso is still troubled by intermittent droughts, tropical diseases and HIV/AIDS, low worldwide prices for cotton (one of its major cash exports), poverty, illiteracy, and uneven population density (very high in the capital while huge areas are deserted).Д«urkina Faso is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and CГґte d'Ivoire to the southwest. Governmental instability during the 1970s and 1980s was followed by multiparty elections in the early 1990s, though one party still dominates the politics of the nation. Formerly Haute-Volta it was a colony of French West Africa, before becoming the Republic of Upper Volta, it was renamed in 1984 by then President Thomas Sankara using native words meaning 'the land of upright and honest people.' The inhabitants are known as BurkinabГ©. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and CГґte d'Ivoire to the southwest. Unitary provisional government under a military juntaД«urkina Faso is a landlocked nation in West Africa.

Capital city of upper volta