Mont Sokbaro

Where is Mont Sokbaro?

Mont Sokbaro is part of the Atakora Range.

You will find it in: Benin.

Summit: 9.328° N, 1.416° E

The story behind it

The Atakora is a chain of hard quartzite ridges that crosses northern Benin like a wrinkled band, and Mont Sokbaro is its highest bump, although the measured heights differ by a few metres. The rock is old and tough, which is why the ridge has survived while the softer land around it was worn flat over an enormous span of time. In the rainy season the slopes turn green, waterfalls appear in the gullies and farmers plant millet and yams between the stones; in the dry season everything fades to gold and dust. The Atakora hills are the home of the Betammaribe people, who build tall clay houses with round towers that look like small castles. Walkers reach the summit on village paths, and from the ridge the border country towards Togo lies open in the haze.

Find it on the globe

Mont Sokbaro is there as a small peak with its own shape — a horn, a ridge, a volcano — standing on the surface. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.