ABSTRACT
With a length of 2600 miles (4180 km), the Niger is Africa's third river after the Nile and Congo, and the principal river of West Africa. It drains an area of 730,000 square miles (1,890,700 square km) and has a mean annual discharge of 215,000 cubic feet (6080 cubic m) per second. There are wide climatic variations along its length, with 160 inches (4060 mm) of rain a year at the delta and only ten inches (254 mm) at Timbuktu. The Niger has been given a variety of names in different parts of its course: Joliba (the great river) in its upper course; Mayo Balleo or Isa Eghirren in its central reaches; and Kwarra or Kworra in its lower stretch. The river rises on the landward side of the Fouta Djallon Mountains of Guinea, where it emerges from a deep ravine at 2800 feet (853 m) above sea level to flow due north for 100 miles (161 km) before turning north-east to follow a great arc, passing through Mali, then south-east through Niger. Before reaching the Mali border the river receives a number of tributaries. For the last part of its passage through Niger, as it flows south-eastwards before entering Nigeria, the river forms the boundary with Benin. It then continues southeast across Nigeria until at Lokoja it is joined by its greatest tributary, the Benue; at that point the river forms a lake-like stretch of water that is two miles (3.2 km) wide and dotted with islands. Thereafter it flows due south to the Gulf of Guinea through its great delta west of Port Harcourt. The Niger Delta covers approximately 14,000 square miles (36,260 square km); its separate channels are the Nun, Forcados, Brass, Sombreiro and Bonny.
