Bahr el Ghazal
Location
Country	South Sudan
Physical characteristics
Source	Sudd swamps
2nd source	Jur River
• location	Ibba, Western Equatoria
• coordinates	4°22′12″N 29°15′25″E / 4.370°N 29.257°E / 4.370; 29.257
• elevation	c. 428 m (1,404 ft) above sea level
Mouth	White Nile
• location	Pariang, Ruweng
• coordinates	9°31′N 30°25′E / 9.517°N 30.417°E / 9.517; 30.417
• elevation	396 m (1,299 ft)
Length	716 km (445 mi)
Basin size	851,459 km2 (328,750 sq mi)
Discharge
• average	48 m3/s (1,700 cu ft/s)

The Bahr el Ghazal (Arabic: بحر الغزال, lit. 'sea of gazelles'; also spelled Bahr al Ghazal and Baḩr al Ghazāl) is a river in South Sudan. The South Sudanese region of Bahr el Ghazal takes its name from the river.

The Bahr el Ghazal is the main western tributary of the Nile. It is 716 kilometres (445 mi) long, flowing through the Sudd wetlands to Lake No, where it joins the White Nile.^[1]

Hydrology

The Bahr al Ghazal's drainage basin is the largest of any of the Nile's sub-basins, measuring 520,000 km² (200,800 mi²) in size, but it contributes a relatively small amount of water, about 2 m³/s (70 ft³/s) annually, due to tremendous volumes of water being lost in the Sudd wetlands.^[2] Seasonally, the river's discharge ranges from nothing to 48 m³/s (1,700 ft³/s).^[1]

According to some sources, the river is formed by the confluence of the Jur River and Bahr al-Arab rivers.^[1] However other more recent sources say the river rises in the Sudd wetlands with no definitive source, that the Jur River joins at Lake Ambadi, and the Bahr al-Arab joins below that.^[3] The river's drainage basin, including its tributaries, is 851,459 square kilometres (328,750 sq mi) and reaches west to the border of the Central African Republic and northwest to the Darfur region.

History

The river was first mapped in 1772 by French geographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville, although it was vaguely known to early Greek geographers.