The Mono River is the major river of eastern

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

. Approximately long, and draining a basin of about , it rises between the town of

Sokodé Sokodé is the List of cities in Togo, second largest city in Togo, with a population of about 189,000. It is a commercial center for the surrounding agricultural areas, and seat of the Tchaoudjo, Tchaoudjo Prefecture and Centrale Region, Togo, Ce ...

and the border with

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

, and flows south. Along the southern portion of the river towards its mouth, it forms the

international boundary Borders are generally defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ...

between Togo and Benin. The river drains into the

Bight of Benin The Bight of Benin, or Bay of Benin, is a bight in the Gulf of Guinea area on the western African coast that derives its name from the historical Kingdom of Benin. Geography The Bight of Benin was named after the Kingdom of Benin. It extends ea ...

through an extensive system of

brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuary ...

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

s and

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s, including

Lake Togo Lake Togo ''(French language, French: Lac Togo)'' is the largest part of a lagoon in Togo, separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow coastal strip. It is shallow and a popular location for water sports. Towns on the lake's shore include Agbod ...

. Only the part of the river nearest its mouth is navigable. Most of the river's basin on the upper tableland is cultivated for

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

, yams,

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

and

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

. The river is dammed from its mouth by the Nangbeto Dam, a partnership between Benin and Togo completed in 1987. Studies have reported economic benefits from the dam, including tourism and fishing in the lake behind it. The dam's construction displaced between 7,600 and 10,000 people, however, and studies indicate that it has substantially modified the ecology of the lagoon system at the river's mouth by reducing the natural seasonal fluctuations in river flow. A second dam project, Adjarala Dam, was proposed to be built on the river between Nangbeto and the river's mouth during the 1990s but did not receive financing until 2017 when the China-Africa Development Fund agreed to support the project.''Togo First'', Togo: CAD Fund to support new development projects, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 19:08, https://www.togofirst.com/en/investments/1109-1578-togo-cad-fund-to-support-new-development-projects The dam's construction is part of the government's plan to increase Benin's domestic power generation capacity from 20 to 70% as most of Togo and Benin's electricity currently needs to be imported from the

Akosombo Dam The Akosombo Dam, also known as the Volta Dam, is a Hydroelectricity, hydroelectric dam on the Volta River in southeastern Ghana in the Akosombo gorge and part of the Volta River Authority. The construction of the dam flooded part of the Volta Riv ...

in Ghana. About from its mouth, there are six series of rapids. Below this, the river becomes slow-moving and flows over a swampy floodplain, and there is a large area of contiguous wetland in both Togo and Benin. This area has a rich growth of reeds, sedges and grasses, and

manatee Manatees (, family (biology), family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivory, herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing t ...

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term "crocodile" is sometimes used more loosely to include ...

s and

hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...

occur in the river.

References

*Adam, K.S (1991). Les impacts environnementaux du barrage du Nangbeto
''Geo-Eco-Trop''
13(1-4):103-112. *Thomas, Kevin (2002). Development projects and involuntary population displacement: The World Bank's attempt to correct past failures. ''Population Research and Policy Review'' 21(4):339-349. {{coord, 6.2959, N, 1.9299, E, dim:1000_region:TG-M/BJ-MO_type:waterbody_source:dewiki, display=title Rivers of Togo Rivers of Benin Benin–Togo border International rivers of Africa