New Benin Highpoint – Kotopounga

New Benin Highpoint – Kotopounga

Jan 24, 2026

Eric, Serge, Jared

Survey Results: 669.2m +/-0.1m EGM2008

Location: (10.289369, 1.544253)

Benin had not previously been surveyed accurately enough to determine which location was the highest in the country. Satellite-based measurements from the 2002 SRTM mission revealed two contenders for the country highpoint: Sokbaro, near the Togo border, and a hill near Kotopounga village farther north near the Burkina Faso border. This second hill has sometimes incorrectly been referred to as Tanekas.

Digital elevation models based on SRTM data put both hills within a few meters of the same height (depending on the model used). This is well within the stated accuracy of SRTM measurements of +/-16m for sampled points, and unknown accuracy for unsampled points. (Points were measured at roughly 30m horizontal spacing.)

In 2021 I’d climbed Sokbaro with Serge from the Togo side and measured its elevation with a highly accurate GNSS receiver, measuring 658.9m +/-0.2m. On that trip we weren’t able to visit Kotopounga, the other candidate, due to a dangerous security situation in northern Benin and strict COVID requirements for entry.

By 2026 I was back in Africa, though, and decided to return to Benin to finally complete my measurements and determine the true country highpoint. Currently the area around Kotopounga is safe.

Our original plan was to first be in Burkina Faso climbing and surveying the highpoint there, then drive across the border into northern Benin. But after contacting locals in Benin I learned Al Qaeda is active in the border zone and it is too dangerous to cross. So we decided to instead fly from Burkina Faso to Benin.

Unfortunately after we planned our trip the US issued a travel ban on Burkina Faso citizens, and Burkina Faso retaliated by banning US citizens. So we cancelled Burkina Faso and flew from our last country, Liberia, to Benin. We requested refunds for our flights and visas, but uncertain if those will work out.

This change added some buffer time to our schedule, which is often helpful in Africa because things rarely go according to plan.

The first potential problem was that our Benin visas technically started Jan 23, but the cheapest flights on the new schedule had us arriving Jan 22. We decided to give it a shot, and luckily the airline agent and immigration agent both let us through. They likely just didn’t notice the discrepancy.

I arranged a driver and car in advance for the peak. This is usually safer and cheaper than renting a car in West Africa because a local driver will know which areas are safe and when it is safe to drive, and will help get through checkpoints without paying bribes.

We stayed in Cotonou for a buffer day Jan 23 and I went for a run on the beach, which was surprisingly clean.

Jan 24 we left town around 630am and started driving north. Google maps had estimated 8-9 hours drive to the highpoint, but that’s not super reliable and can be drastically affected by road quality. For instance, in Guinea the roads are rough enough that 20km/hr is a typical speed, while if the roads are good 60-100km/hr is typical.

Also, in many West African countries it is dangerous to drive at night (because fake checkpoints can be set up at night and people posing as police officers might rob you). I was told driving at night should be avoided in Benin.

To be conservative I booked the driver for three days, one to drive to the highpoint, one to hike and measure it, and one to drive back.

The roads were paved and in excellent shape, and we made very good time, often reaching 130km/hr.

By 230pm we reached Kotopounga village and turned off on the road leading to the highpoint. We had gotten there way earlier than expected, so decided to just hike it then.

But soon the road narrowed and our driver didn’t want to proceed. If serge or I had been driving we would have pushed on farther, but it was only about 2km from the highpoint. So we told our driver to wait a few hours while we hiked.

There were plenty of motorcycle drivers in the area and we could have easily hired them to take us farther, but I kind of wanted some exercise anyways.

We hiked down mostly flat dirt trails south then east, sometimes along the edges of farmed fields. It looked like casava was being grown.

By 3pm we reached the highest contour, consistent across multiple satellite-based DEMs. We walked around inside the contour and the highest visible ground was actually next to a small mud hut. Two locals were resting in the shade of a tree next to the hut and a motorcycle.

We said hello and asked if we could set up some equipment there for an hour, and they said no problem. I set up the Trimble DA2 on the ground next to the hut, which was the approximate highpoint location. The ground around the hut has all been disturbed for the casava farming, but the hut is a good marker to signify the highest ground in a mostly-flat area.

The unit sends data over Bluetooth to a dedicated phone, which i put on the ground next to it. I came back after 30 minutes to check up on it, and unfortunately the phone had overheated and shut off. I’d never encountered this problem before, but I guess I rarely survey peaks in the heat. It was in the mid 90s F so pretty hot.

I dumped some water on my hat, then wrapped that around the phone and put it under my pack for shade. Then I restarted logging data.

We killed time for an hour and talked to the locals. They said the whole area we were in was referred to as Kotopounga, the same name as the nearby village. The highest ground isn’t really an obvious hill and just looks pretty flat, so they don’t really have a name for it specifying hill or peak. So I will refer to it as the name they told us, Kotopounga (pronounced Ko-to-poinya).

This time the phone stayed cool enough to log an hour of data. By 5pm I saved the data and we headed out, just as the locals headed back into the field after their break.

We made it back to the village by 530pm, then drove in to Natitingou for the night. We were ahead of schedule, so thought maybe we could visit the nearby Pendjari national Park to see some elephants and lions. But we were told the park was closed because Al Qaeda was controlling the area. Indeed, we saw a few army vehicles rolling through town headed towards the Burkina Faso border. So we instead rode back to Cotonou the next day.

I processed the measurements with Trimblertx and found Kotopounga is 669.2m +/-0.2m. This is 10.3m taller than Sokbaro. This means Kotopounga is the true country highpoint of Benin.

© 2026, egilbert@alum.mit.edu. All rights reserved.