From
there, the river flows to Khartoum. Meanwhile,
the Blue Nile (or Bahr al Azraq to Sudanese;
Abbai to Ethiopians) springs from Lake
Tana in the Ethiopian Highlands. The Blue
Nile flows about 1,400 km (850 miles)
to Khartoum, where the Blue Nile and White
Nile join to form "the Nile."
Most of the water carried by the Nile
(about 83%) originates from Ethiopia,
but this runoff only happens in summer,
when the great rains fall on the Ethiopian
Plateau; the rest of the year the great
rivers draining Ethiopia to the Nile (Sobat,
Blue Nile, and Atbara) flow weakly or
are dry. After the Blue and White Niles
merge, the only remaining major tributary
is the Atbara River, which originates
in Ethiopia north of Lake Tana, and is
approximately 800 km (500 miles) long.
It joins the Nile approximately 300 km
(200 miles) past Khartoum. The Nile is
also unusual in that its last tributary
(the Atbara) joins it approximately halfway
to the sea. From that point north, the
Nile diminishes because of evaporation.
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