Blue Nile
The Blue Nile
Nil Azul
The Nile origanly is a Greek word, Neilos (Νειλος), meaning river vally. In Arabic it is called Al –Neel (النيل ) in Amharic , Abbay (አባይ ) in Coptic Phiaro and by ancient Egpytian hieroglyphics, Iteru. The Nile has two major streams: Blue Nile and White Nile.
The Blue Nile starts its journey from Lake Tana in the Ethiopian highland Plateaue where they call it the Abbay.( Tukur Abbay- Black Nile) The tiny Abbay seeks its way toward the plains of the Sudan. Several streams join it along its way to the Sudan: the Didesa( or Dinder in Sudan), Bahr Salam, Rahad,and Bahr Atbara in the Sudan(Tekkeze in Ehiopia or Settiet in Eritrea ). There are many other seasonal streams and Khors roaming in the Blue Nile Basin which never find its way to the Nile such as: Gash ( Mereb in Eritrea), Toker( Anseba in Eritrea), Khor Umdood, Khur Galug, Khor Gharsat, Khor Garghaf, Khor Um-hajar and Badamit (all in Eritrea). These are seasonal vallies which flood during the rainy seasons trying to find its way to the Blue Nile, but vanish in the Sudanese arid plains.
The Blue Nile or Bahr Azraq ÈÍÑ ÃÒÑÞ as it is called in the Sudan meets proudly its twin stream the White Nile at a point in Khartoum called the Moghran ( the confluence). It gives Khartoum its charming flavour of an exotic tropical legacy where Arab, European, Asian and African urban traditions are mixed with a tint of old colonial and oriental environment. A long the bank of the Blue Nile at Khartoum a beautiful Boulevard runs gently between massive trees and splendid governmental premises and many tourist attractions arises among the green vast parks bordering the river. The Republican Palace where Charles Gordon was killed three centuries ago, the Great international Conference building, Friendship Hall, the Grand Hotel, the Khartoum Hilton and many other sites are situated on the Blue Nile bank.
At the Other side of the Blue Nile arises Khartoum North, a timid charming town.
The Blue Nile is known by its fertile valley where various kinds of crops are cultivated. The famous scheme in this regard is the Gezira Scheme in the Sudan. Two irrigation dams has been built on the Blue Nile. Rosseires Dam and Sennar Dam. Khasim-el-Girba dam has been also constructed on the Atbara stream to accommodate the emigrated Nubians of New Halfa with irrigation water after they were transferred to the area following the building of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt in the sixties of the last century.
The Nile south of Khartoum is starkly simple. Brown coloured water wends its way through the Nubian desert. No other stream meets it except the Atbara. In Northern Sudan and Egypt the Nile is the only source of life. Its waters are used for irrigation. Ancient civilization of the pharaohs flourished at the banks of the Nile some 4000 years ago. Temples and pyramids and ruins are scattered in places like Meroe, Nuri, Jabel Barkal in the Sudan, Kom Ombo, Karnak. Luxor and Giza in Egypt. The river passes through the Eastern and western of the Egyptian Desert and at last it splits after Cairo into two streams: Rashid ( or Rosetta ) and Dumyat forming the Nile Delta: Egypt's cornucopia.
French and Sudanese Ministers in a Nile trip(2004)
(with Courtesy)
Links
Blue Nile Organization
Blue Nile
Blue Nile
The Nile Case study
Blue Nile Agreement
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