Valbonë (river)

In narrow Valbona valley below Dragobi

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

Valbona is the name of a river in northern Albania. It is considered the largest river of the Albanian Alps, the central eastern part of it drained.

The river rises south of Jezerca in Tropoja from karst springs. At its upper reaches the Valbona flows through a 30 kilometers long, shaped by glaciers valley bearing the same name. Here is the place Rrogam, the highest settlement in the Valbona Valley, is virtually uninhabited today. From here on the valley floor for several kilometers is flat and quite wide, a typical U- valley. In the shallow section here marked by a wide gravel bed of the river does not always result in the summer water - the water flows underground for about seven kilometers. At the widest point is the village of Valbona. Just below the town, the valley is steep and narrow. On a slightly wider point is the small village Dragobi, in a valley a few hamlets. At the end of the Valbona valley, the river passes through a deep gorge and then out into a wide glacial valley, at the edge of the city of Bajram Curri is. There she takes up the rivers Gash and Bistrica. The Valbona opens, after another narrow passage between mountains, in Fierza right side in the Koman dam jammed Drin.

The 50.6 km long Valbona is considered the largest tributary of the Drin. Still, she keeps her wild, alpine character during the whole course. It drains an area of 657 square kilometers. The average discharge at the bottom of the site Gria is 33 cubic meters per second.

The Valbona Glacier reached a length of 9.5 km in the Würm. It stretched from the northeast flank of the Jezerca where today there are two very short, active glaciers, to a little less than Valbona. At this point, to around 920 müa the transition from the broad glacial valley in a narrow V-shaped valley can be seen today.