Country Guide

Benin is a West African country with a short coastline on the Gulf of Guinea. It is situated between Nigeria to the east and Togo to the west and extends between 6° and 12° N. It is very narrow from east to west. It shares the same climatic belts and sequence of weather around the year as those described for Nigeria and adjacent countries.

The coastal region has two rainy seasons, one peaking in May or June, the other in October, but in the north there is a single rainy season starting in May or June.

In the north there is a single long dry season between October and April. At this time temperatures are warm to hot with a very low relative humidity and the dust-laden harmattan wind blows from the northeast. From December to February the harmattan affects the whole country, except a strip along the coast.

The coast has southwesterly winds, the dry harmattan reaching right to the coast on only a few days. The table for Cotonou, which is on the coast, is representative of the south of the country.

On the coast the period from December to February is least likely to experience rainy days. The coast is a little drier round the year than the districts immediately inland for the same reasons as those described for Ghana. For the centre and north of the country the climatic conditions round the year are well represented by the tables for Ibadan and Kano respectively; both these places are in Nigeria.