Overview of different physical areas of the basin

Attention, invalide translation ! Via Google (non-automatised process)

Friday 13 June 2008 by administrateur

The assets of the Niger Basin is shared among nine countries in West and Central Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Chad. The inactive part of the basin is primarily Algeria, Mali and Niger. The Niger River plays a vital role within the region and the countries through which it flows.

The river Niger is the third longest river in Africa (4200 km) and the fourteenth longest in the world, ranking ninth in terms of size of the drainage basin (2170500 km2, whose active part covers about 1500000 km2).

The catchment area is located between 28 Â° N latitude in Algeria and 4 Â° N in the Gulf of Guinea, west to east, the basin extends longitude 11.5 Â° W of Fouta Djalon up in Guinea 15 degrees East in Chad.

The Niger River has its source in the mass of Fouta Djallon Guinea, a region of high plateaus with an average altitude of 1100 m.

It flows north-east and during the wet season form a vast floodplain in Mali called the inland delta.

After the inland delta, the river forms a loop in Mali and begins to sink to the south-east to Nigeria, where he received the Benue (its main tributary), and finally empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

Its basin geographically, covering vast desert areas, floodplains and wetlands, is characterized by large valleys, which are gradually drying.