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West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo as well as Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha. The population of West Africa is estimated at about 381 million people as of 2018, and at 381,981,000 as of 2017, of which 189,672,000 are female and 192,309,000 male. The region is demographically and economically one of the fastest-growing on the African continent.

Early history in West Africa included a number of prominent regional powers, that dominated different parts of both the coast and internal trade networks, such as the Mali and Gao Empires. West Africa sat the intersection of trade routes between Arab-dominated North Africa and specialized goods from further south on the continent, including gold, advanced iron-working, and products like ivory. After European exploration encountered a rich local economies and kingdoms, the European slave trade exploited previous slave systems to provide labor for colonies in the Americas. After the end of the slave trade in the early 19th century, Europeans, especially France and Britain, continued to exploit the region through colonial relationships—exporting a number of extractive goods, including labor-intensive agricultural crops like cocoa and coffee, forestry products like tropical timber, and minerals like gold. Since independence, many of the West African countries, like Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal, play important roles in the regional and global economies.

West Africa has a rich ecology, with strong biodiversity and several distinct regions. The climate and ecology are heavily influenced by the dry Sahara to the North and East, which provides dry winds during the Harmattan, and the west and humid climate to the south and of the Atlantic which provides seasonal monsoons. This mix of ecologies, mean that there is both biodiversity-rich tropical forest and drylands that support a number of rare or endangered fauna, such as pangolin, rhinoceros, and elephant. Because of the pressure for economic development, many of these ecologies are threatened by processes like deforestation, biodiversity loss, overfishing, pollution from mining, plastic, and other economic processes, and the extreme changes that will result from climate change in West Africa.

The history of West Africa can be divided into five major periods: first, its prehistory, in which the first human settlers arrived, developed agriculture, and made contact with peoples to the north; the second, the Iron Age empires that consolidated both intra-Africa, and extra-Africa trade, and developed centralized states; third, major polities flourished, which would undergo an extensive history of contact with non-Africans; fourth, the colonial period, in which Great Britain and France controlled nearly the entire region; and fifth, the post-independence era, in which the current nations were formed. Wikipedia

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Sani Pass is a mountain pass located in the West of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa on the road between Underberg, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mokhotlong, Lesotho. The route up Sani Pass starts at 1,544 metres (5,066 ft), and climbs 1,332 m (4,370 ft) to an altitude of 2,876 m (9,436 ft). The steep gravel road has gradients up to 1:3, which can be difficult to drive in bad weather and may be covered with snow and ice in winter. By South African law, only 4×4 vehicles are allowed on the road. Several tour operators run guided tours up and down the pass. The pass lies between the border controls of both countries and is approximately 9 km in length. Caution must be exercised and motorists must be alert while navigating the pass as it has claimed many lives. Occasionally the remains of vehicles that did not succeed in navigating the pass’s steep gradients and poor traction surfaces can be seen.

The Sani Pass dirt road will be upgraded in two phases; phase 1 extending for 14 km from the P318 (Sani Pass) turnoff and finishing at the old Good Hope Trading Post, and phase 2 extending from kilometer 14 to kilometer 33, the summit of Sani Pass. Construction work for the first phase commenced in December 2006 and was completed in September 2012.

An economic impact study for phase 2 was compiled in August 2011. and its environmental impact assessment was compiled in October 2011. On 2 July 2013, the South African Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism approved the execution of phase 2 of the project, with the ultimate objective to re-gravel the final 5 km of the pass. The department also authorized plans to upgrade the storm-water drainage system and retaining walls along the route to reduce sand and gravel erosion.

On 21 May 2014 the South African Environmental Affairs Minister, Edna Molewa, approved the execution of phase 2. Tarring was planned to start within five months following the announcement and would bring the total cost of the project to R887-million. In July 2015 it was stated that phase 2 shall be completed in 2019. As of August 2018, there was no timeline for phase 3.

As of May 2021, the third phase had yet to start, and the finishing of phase 2 was largely, but not entirely complete.

While South African emigration at the bottom of the pass prohibits vehicles deemed unsuitable for the journey, the Lesotho border agents at the summit generally allow vehicles of all types to attempt the descent. The pass is often closed due to adverse weather conditions, especially during winter. Wikipedia

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