Bafing River Explained

Bafing River
Pushpin Map:Mali
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of the mouth in Mali
Subdivision Type1:Countries
Subdivision Name1:Mali, Guinea
Source1:Fonta Djallon
Source1 Location:Foranruel, Guinea
Source1 Elevation:750m (2,460feet)
Mouth:Senegal River
Mouth Location:Bafoulabé, Mali
Mouth Elevation:83m (272feet)
River System:Senegal River

The Bafing River (Manding for "black river", French: Rivière Bafing)[1] is the upper course and largest tributary of the Senegal River which runs through Guinea and Mali and is about long.

Course

The Fonta Djallon in Guinea is the source of the Bafing River,[2] north of Mamou.[1] It flows for about [3] and converges with the Bakoy River to join the Senegal River in western Africa.[4] [5] The Bafing River is the largest tributary of the Senegal River, and contributes almost half of its total water volume.[6] The Bafing forms part of the international border between Guinea and Mali.[7]

Irrigation

Flooding from the Bafing River along the Senegal River had been traditionally relied on as a means of supporting local agriculture. However, a drought in the 1970s necessitated the construction of dams on both the Bafing River and the Senegal River. The Manantali hydroelectric dam, completed in 1987,[8] is located on the Bafing River upstream of Bafoulabé. It forms the largest artificial lake in Mali, Lake Manantali. The dam retains 11.3km3 of water which is used to power the turbines during the dry season. As a result, the intensity of the maximum flood downstream of the dam has been reduced but during the dry season, a flow of between 150m3/s and 200m3/s is maintained.[9]

Ecology

There may be a significant chimpanzee population in the area east of the Bafing River.[10] The blue-headed bee-eater (merops muelleri) has also been sighted at the forest on the river south of the Manding Mountains.[11]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Mohamed Saliou Camara. Thomas O'Toole. Janice E. Baker. Historical Dictionary of Guinea. 7 November 2013. Scarecrow Press. 978-0-8108-7969-0. 38.
  2. Book: M. van der Knaap. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Status of Fish Stocks and Fisheries of Thirteen Medium-sized African Reservoirs. 1994. Food & Agriculture Org.. 978-92-5-103581-8. 19.
  3. Book: Rand McNally and Company. Rand McNally Encyclopedia of World Rivers. 1980. Rand McNally. 9.
  4. .
  5. .
  6. Book: Development Anthropology Network: Bulletin of the Institute for Development Anthropology. 1982. The Institute for Development Anthropology. 10.
  7. Book: Brownlie, Ian. African Boundaries: A Legal and Diplomatic Encyclopedia. Ian Brownlie. Institute for International Affairs, Hurst and Co.. 1979. 310–13.
  8. Book: Itzchak Kornfeld. Mega-Dams and Indigenous Human Rights. 31 January 2020. Edward Elgar Publishing. 978-1-78643-549-1. 109.
  9. .
  10. Book: Rebecca Kormos. West African Chimpanzees: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. 2003. IUCN. 48.
  11. Book: C. Hilary Fry. The Bee-Eaters. 30 September 2010. Bloomsbury Publishing. 978-1-4081-3687-4. 47.