Didessa River
The Didessa River (pronounced: ɗeɗ:e:s:a; Afaan Oromo: Dhedheessa) is a river in western Ethiopia. A tributary of the Abay River, it rises in the mountains of Gomma, flowing in a northwestern direction to its confluence where the course of the Abay has curved to its southernmost point before turning northwards at about 9°57′N 35°41′E / 9.950°N 35.683°ECoordinates: 9°57′N 35°41′E / 9.950°N 35.683°E. The Didessa's drainage area is about 19,630 square kilometers, covering portions of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region and the West Welega Zone of the Oromia Region.
Tributaries on the right bank include the Enareya, Aet, Wama, and the Angar rivers; on the left side the most important tributary is the Dobana River. Exploring this river in the mid-1890s and from interviews with local inhabitants, Alexander Bulatovich asserted that downstream of its junction with the Angar, the Didessa is rapid-free and potentially navigable.
Human history
The early 20th-century explorer Herbert Weld Blundell opined that "Didessa" appears to have replaced a much older name for this river, finding no earlier usage for it "before 1861, when d'Abbadie was travelling in Western Shoa and made inquiries." At the time of his visit, in 1905, the Handak forest on the right side of the Didessa was "famous as a favourite haunt for elephants. They seem to come up towards the Nile by both the Didesa and Dabus rivers, attracted, no doubt, in the latter river-bed by the rich growth of young bamboo." He also notes that at the confluence of the Didessa with the Abay, "the serious work of goldwashing begins, and continues along the Nile and down the course of the Dabus and its tributaries," adding that:
