Carpe Diem #804 Yellow Nile (Wadi Howar)

!!! I am in the nightshift, so I have a short episode for you !!!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today we arrived at what was called the Yellow Nile or Wadi Howar. Let me tell you a little bit more about the Yellow Nile.

Wadi Howar (Wadi Howa) is a wadi in Sudan and Chad. It travels approximately 400 kilometers in a northeasterly direction from the Ouaddaï highlands in Chad across the North Darfur state of Sudan, before losing itself in the Libyan Desert. Towards its western end it forms a part of the international boundary between Sudan and Chad, separating the West Darfur state of Sudan and the Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region of Chad.

Credits: Ouaddai Highlands with remains of the Ouaddai Empire

The wadi is the remnant of the ancient Yellow Nile, a tributary of the Nile, during the Neolithic Subpluvial, it was one of the largest rivers, lasting until 1500 BC, when the Sahara Desert returned to it present point. It met the Nile near the southern point of the Great Bend. the present extremely arid western part of Upper Nubia (northern Sudan)was temporarily linked to the Nile by way of a hitherto unknown 400 kilometer long tributary. From about 9500 to 4500 years ago, lower Wadi Howar flowed through an environment characterized by numerous ground water outlets and freshwater lakes. Savanna fauna and cattle-herders occupied this region, which today receives at most 25 millimeters of rainfall per year. At that period the southern edge of the eastern Sahara was 500 kilometers further north than today and ground water resources were recharged for the last time.

once a year
the Yellow Nile returns
rainy season

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until August 26th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our next episode, the fifth CD Special by Lolly, later on.