The Sassandra River is a river of western Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d'Ivoire

The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...

 in West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

. It is formed by the confluence of the Tienba River, which originates in the highlands of northwestern Côte d'Ivoire, and the Gouan River (also known as the Bafing Sud River), which originates to the west in the highlands of Guinea

Guinea

Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

. The Sassandra flows south-southeast to empty into the Gulf of Guinea

Gulf of Guinea

The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean between Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian is in the gulf....

 on the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

. The Buyo Dam

Buyo Dam

The Buyo Power Station is a hydroelectric power plant of the Sassandra River in Ivory Coast. Sassandra River in Ivory Coast. It has a power generating capacity of 165 MW enough to power over 111,000 homes...

 was constructed across the middle stretch of the river in 1980, just below the confluence with the Nzo River, to create the reservoir called Lake Buyo

Lake Buyo

Lake Buyo is an artificial lake in western Cote d'Ivoire on the Sassandra River. It was formed by the construction of the Buyo Dam at Buyo in 1980....

. The Davo River joins the Sassandra just before it meets the sea. The port

Port

A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....

 town of Sassandra

Sassandra

Sassandra is the chief town in Sassandra Department of Côte d'Ivoire. The department is located in Bas-Sassandra Region. The town of Sassandra lies on the Gulf of Guinea at the mouth of the Sassandra River. The town was founded by the Portuguese as Santo André and was later run by the British,...

 lies on the seacoast where the river meets the sea.

The river forms the boundary between the Western Guinean lowland forests

Western Guinean lowland forests

The Western Guinean lowland forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of West Africa. The ecoregion includes the lowland forests extending from the Atlantic Ocean a few hundred kilometers inland, and from western Côte d'Ivoire across Liberia, southeastern Guinea, most of Sierra Leone,...

 and the Eastern Guinean forests

Eastern Guinean forests

The Eastern Guinean forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of West Africa. The ecoregion includes the lowland forests extending from the Gulf of Guinea a few hundred kilometers inland, from western Côte d'Ivoire to the western shore of Lake Volta in Ghana. A few small enclaves lie...

 ecoregion

Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...

s.