Gambia River

The river at Niokolo -Koba National Park

Map

Satellite image

Fishing boat on the Gambia River at Janjanbureh Iceland

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The 1120 km long Gambia (Ba Dimma, also Fura, river ' ) is one of the main streams in West Africa. The state is named after the Gambia river, which flows to its territory in half.

River

The Gambia rises in the Fouta Djallon highlands of at Labé (northern Guinea) where the rivers Senegal and Niger spring.

It flows north-west into the province of Tambacounda in Senegal and then continue through the National Park Niokolo -Koba. He joins the Nieri Ko and Koulountou leaves at Barrakunda the mountainous country and occurs with rapids in the broad, flat coastal zone to pull the same in multiple turns.

The territory of Gambia is reached at Fatoto. The mouth in the Atlantic Ocean at Banjul, capital of Gambia, has the form of a so-called Estuary ( Estuary ). It is located between Cape St. Mary and Jinnak Bolon (Senegal) and has a width of about 22 kilometers.

Dry and rainy seasons

In Fattatenda has the river itself in the dry season, which lasts from December to April and a depth of four to six meters, while it reaches a twelve to 16 meters higher level at 100 meters wide in the rainy season. In the dry season the salt water of the Atlantic partially penetrates up to 200 kilometers in the river bed, causing the river water then only conditionally suitable for irrigation purposes. In the rainy season the Gambia swamped by Barrakunda to the whole flat country far and wide and leaves a similar fertilizing mud back like the Nile; then the fresh water of the Gambia penetrates a few kilometers into the ocean.

River length

The length of 1120 km long Gambia is partly quantified in a variety of reference books on 1127, or 1130 km.

Attractions and buildings

In the river - near Juffure - is the island of Iceland to the James Fort James, a place that was operated at the earlier slave trade, and a place which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Importance as a transport route

From seagoing ships of the Gambia is navigable near the place Kuntaur to about 248 km into it. Smaller vessels can reach 229 km further, just 477 km away from the mouth, the place Fatoto.