Lofa River

The Lofa (English: Lofa River), also known as Little Cape Mount River, is a river in West Africa, bordering the Republics of Liberia and Guinea (only headwaters ). The Lofa is not navigable because of numerous rapids and shallows, but is also used for centuries by Africans with boats and canoes as transportation.

The Lofa has a catchment area of ​​9194 km ², it rises in the prefecture Macenta in the southeast of the Republic of Guinea, flows through the western part of the country the Republic of Liberia ( Lofa, Gbarpolu and Bomi County ) and flows south from Bomboja into the Atlantic. In the middle reaches of the river meets the mountains Wonegizi Range and flows through the Kpelle National Forest. The water flow of the river changes in the seasonal course resistant:

• The upper reaches, at the hydrographic station Dougami, Liberia, catchment area 236 km ², the maximum in the month of September is achieved, it is 123.9 m³ / s, the minimum is s registered with 4.6 m³ / in February.

At the headwaters of the Lofa is a distribution area of ​​the dwarf hippopotamus, there a pair of these rare animals was captured by the German explorer Hans Schomburgk and brought to adventurous routes to the U.S. in 1911 on behalf of the New York Zoological Society.

On Lofa diamonds and gold deposits were discovered in the 19th century, they are run by local prospectors and adventurers without the use of modern mining technology. In the lower reaches there is an extensive rubber plantations.