GHANA

In 1957, The Republic Of Ghana, located on the southern coast of West Africa, was the first nation in sub-saharan Africa to gain independence from Great Britain. Subsequently, the country was ruled predominantly by military leaders until returning to constitutional rule in 1992. The nation has remained stable and peaceful, and successfully changed governments through a democratic election in 2000. The traditional administrative structures, such as chiefdoms and traditional councils, have co-existed continuously with both a colonial and now a modern governmental structure.

Characterized by vast diversity, Ghana’s 20 million people speak approximately 100 different dialects in geographic region of 238,539 square kilometers (92098 square miles).

The official language is English and approximately half of the population is literate. There are over 100 ethnic groups with the major ones being the Akan, Guan, Ewe and Ga. The Akan language is spoken by 60% of the Ghanaian population.

It is a beautiful country with 539km stretch of shoreline, and shares borders with Togo to the east, Cote d'Ivoire to the west and Burkina Faso to the north.

The climate of Ghana is tropical, but temperatures and rainfall vary with distance from the coast and elevation. Two distinct rainy seasons occur, from April to June and September to November. The harmattan, a dry desert wind, blows from the north-east from December to March.
In most areas highest temperatures occur in March, the lowest in August. The average annual temperature is about 26.1 degrees Celsius (79f).