Geography:
The Gambia is situated
in the Sahelian zone on
 the West Coast of Africa. It is
one of the smallest
countries in Africa (the smallest being Seychelles archipelago) and has a total area of 11,300 square km, of which about
20 percent is described as wetland. The river runs from east
to west, dividing the country in two strips of land 25 to 50 km wide
and about 300 km long. The country has a total boundary length of 820
km (510 mi), of which 80 km (50 mi) is coastline. The Gambia River,
the country's major waterway, rises in Guinea and follows a twisting
path for about 1,600 km (1,000 mi) to the sea.
The landscape two major geomorphologic units can be distinguished
between the uplands and the lowlands:
On the upland plateaus, weathered tropical soils are found. These
soils have low intrinsic fertility and low water retention capacity,
but their drainage conditions are good. The plateau is intersected by
watercourses flowing downwards on the lowlands. These streams have
formed narrow fluvio colluvial valleys (Wulumbangos).
The lowlands include the floodplain of the River Gambia in the Upper
Valley, and tidal plains (Banta Faros) in the Central Valley
and Lower Valley. The soils of the lowlands are flat, fine
textured and poorly drained. In the LV potentially acid sulphate soils
occur, which can become acidic soils unless water logging is
prevented by drainage.
The vegetation is comprised of the Savannah type with shrub and
grass understoreys. Mangroves are found in the western half of the
country in the floodplains of the river region. The cultivable land
area is roughly 430,000 hectares, which is 38 percent of the
total area. Five years ago arable land was 250,000 hectares, while 5,000 hectares were
under permanent crops
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Natural Habitats:
The main feature of the land is predominantly Guinea woodland
savanna and Sahelian scrub with
with mangroves concentrated near the estuary of the River Gambia and
along its banks.
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