Gongola River

The Gongola

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Gongola is a river in central eastern Nigeria and flows through the states of Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa. He is with a length of about 531 km the longest tributary of the Benue and thus belongs to the catchment area of ​​the largest West African river, the Niger.

The Gongola has a catchment area of 56,000 km ² and rises southeast of the city of Jos in central Bauchiplateau. It flows from its source, the confluence of the rivers Lere and Maijuju, in a northeasterly direction and overcomes several waterfalls before it leaves the plateau to change its flow direction from northeast to southeast around at Nafada in a large loop. The Gongola flows generally fall by a drier region of Sudan, in which about 650 mm of precipitation per year. At its middle and lower reaches it unites with its largest tributaries to the Hawal and the Gungeru, both spring from the volcanic Biu Plateau. Also on the lower reaches of Gongola the two reservoirs Kadin Kowa and Kiri were built and put into operation in 1984. Both are primarily used for irrigation of agricultural projects that serve the growing of cotton, peanuts and sorghum millet. Opposite Numan joins the Gongola in the Benue.