Chari River
Catchment area of the Shari
View of the Shari
The Shari ( in the French spelling Chari ) is 1400 km long main tributary of the African Lake Chad. Its headwaters originate in part to the Darfur, the North Equatorial threshold and the highlands of Adamawa. His main source rivers are the Bahr Salamat / Azoum Bahr, Bahr Aouk, Bahr Sara, Logone and Ouham. Its 650,000 km ² catchment area is also known as Chari - Logone Basin, this fills most of the southern Chad Basin from. In this catchment area of its source rivers are among others the Iro - lake, the Mare de Tizi, National Park Zakouma, National Park André- Félix, National Park Bamingui - Bangoran and the UNESCO World Heritage -listed national park Manovo - Gounda Saint Floris.
The Bahr Salamat Azoum and pass through on their way through southern Chad Basin a level they inundate a large area in the rainy season of the West African monsoon. This flood level was declared under the title Plaines d' inondation the Bahr Salamat et Aouk on an area of 4.922 million hectares at a wetland of international importance and placed under the protection of the Ramsar Convention. It is the world's third largest reserve of the Ramsar Convention.
From the confluence of the Salamat, Azoum and Ouham at Sarh one actually speaks only from the Chari, it flows then generally in a northwesterly direction. It then flows past the National Park Manda and branches at Miltou from the Bahr Erguig from Shari. This crosses the important wetland area in the Plaine de Massenya before he unites 400 km downriver again with the Shari.
In N'Djamena, the Shari associated with its major tributary, the 960 km long Logone. After that, the river forms the border with Cameroon and opens a little further north into Lake Chad.
The Shari is important for the local fishing industry, one of his favorite fish is the Nile perch.
Hydrometrie
The flow rate of the river is for 58 years ( 1933-91 ) in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad, not far upriver from the mouth of the observed Chari in Chad. The observed in N'Djamena mean annual flow rate during this period was 1059 m³ / s powered by an area of about 600,000 square kilometers, or almost the entire catchment area.
The Shari is a very big river, but it flows very irregular, as most of the rivers in the region. In the observation period of 58 years, a maximum flow rate of 4846 was a minimum flow of 8 m³ / s ( almost completely dry), and m³ / s observed.
The average monthly flow of the river Chari measured at the hydrological station of N'Djamena ( in m³ / s) ( Calculated using the data for a period of 58 years, 1933-91 )