Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
flows deep into West Africa's heart, through the vast Niger Inland Delta of central Mali. From there, the Niger
narrows and comes within touching distance of Timbuktu before it comes up against the impenetrable barrier of
the Sahara and performs a long, laborious curve (known as the Niger Bend or Boucle du Niger). Thereafter, it
courses down into Niger and crosses a slice of Benin before emptying into the Atlantic via a maze of swamps and
channels (in Nigeria, west of Port Harcourt) called the Niger Delta.
Apart from its initial descent from the western highlands, the Niger flows on an extremely low gradient and is
fed by highly variable rainfall. As such, its high and low points can vary by an extraordinary 10.7m and the river
is highly susceptible to drought: in 1972 and again in 1984, the river almost dried up completely. Even more seri-
ous than the vagaries of seasonal fluctuations are the threats posed by human activity: by one estimate, the Ni-
ger's volume has fallen by 55% since the 1980s due to climate change, drought, pollution and population growth.
Fish stocks have fallen, water hyacinth is a recurring problem, and the formation of sand bars has made naviga-
tion increasingly difficult. Given that an estimated 110 million people live in the Niger's basin, problems for the
Niger could cause a catastrophic ripple well beyond the river's shoreline.
It may be almost 20 years old, but
The Strong Brown God,
by Sanche de Gramont, remains the most compre-
hensive geographical and human history of the Niger.
That said, within its boundaries are many different subregions. Among these are zones
that are variously described as semidesert savannah, Guinea savannah, Sudanese savan-
nah, dry savannah or dry woodland savannah. In the north, near the true desert, the Sahel
is dry, dusty, sparsely vegetated and barely distinguishable from the Sahara, but in the
south, nearer the forests, it is greener and contains areas of light woodland fed by more
plentiful rains.
Although the Sahel's boundaries are not fixed, the countries of West Africa that are
considered to be all or partly in the Sahel are Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Burk-
ina Faso, Niger and Nigeria. The northern parts of the coastal countries of Côte d'Ivoire,
Ghana, Togo, Benin and Cameroon are relatively dry and sometimes described as having
a Sahelian climate or vegetation.
