Bafing River

Bafing River ranks 3rd on the list of the longest rivers in Mauritania. Bafing River is a river in western Africa that originates in Guinea's Fouta Djallon range and runs northeast for roughly 200 km (320 km). It bends around to run about north-northwest after passing through Bafing Makana, Mali's sole significant riverside community, to become the Sénégal River at its confluence with the Bakoye River slightly south of Bafoulabé, Mali. It's around 350 miles (560 kilometers) long and impassable. It flows down from the peak to the Sénégal River basin via the intermediate sandstone Mandingues Mountains.

Traditional floods from The Bafing River near the Senegal River have been relied on to feed local crops. A drought in the 1970s, however, forced the construction of dams on both the Bafing and Senegal rivers. The Manantali hydroelectric dam, constructed in 1987, is located 90 kilometers upstream of Bafoulabé on the Bafing River. Lake Manantali, Mali's largest manmade lake, is formed by it. During the dry season, the dam holds 11.3 cubic kilometers of water, which is utilized to power the turbines. As a result, the maximum flood downstream of the dam has been lowered, although a flow of between 150 and 200 m3/s is maintained throughout the dry season.

Length: 563 km