Countries

The Republic of Burundi, located in eastern Africa, is bounded on the north by Rwanda, on the east and south by Tanzania, and on the west by Lake Tanganyika and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It covers an area of 27 834 km² (including 2 000 km² of Lake Tanganyika, which lies along its south-western border). It is situated between latitudes 20° 45´and 4° 28´S and longitudes 29°and 30° 53´ E. Landlocked in the centre of Africa, it is 1 200 km from the Indian Ocean and over 2 000 km from the Atlantic.

The country is split between the Nile and Zaïre (or Congo) basins. The dividing watershed, the Zaïre-Nile ridge, runs more or less north-south, rising to 2 670 m at Mount Héha, while the lowest level in the country is that of the surface of Lake Tanganyika at 780 m, with only about 25 km between these two extreme points. Western Burundi lies between the Zaïre-Nile ridge and Lake Tanganyika and the Ruzizi (a water course flowing between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Kivu) and may be subdivided as follows:

• The Ruzizi plain and the Lake Tanganyika riverain plain, with altitudes between 780 and 1 000 m (Imbo);
• The western foothills of the ridge, between 1 000 and 1 600 m (Mumigwa);
• The ridge, or Bufunda-Mugamba, between 1 600 and 2 300 m, with some higher peaks (Mounts Teza, Manga and Héha);
• The Bututsi or highland region in the south of the country.

The climate is of the high tropical type, on the whole temperate and even cold, with a large number of microclimates and considerable variation from one year to the next. The Great Rift Valley region around Bujumbura has an average temperature of 23 °C and an average annual rainfall of 760 mm. The mountainous western region of the country has an average temperature of 17 °C and an average annual rainfall of about 1 500 mm. On the plateaux, temperatures average 20 °C and about 1 200 mm of rain falls a year. The rainy season in Burundi generally lasts from February to May.

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.