A major Nigerian Ramsar floodplain where the Niger and Kaduna rivers spread across the Guinea savanna.
Lower Kaduna-Middle Niger Floodplain
The Lower Kaduna-Middle Niger Floodplain is a large wetland in the Nigerian states of Niger and Kwara, recognized internationally as a Ramsar site. It covers an expansive area at the confluence of the Niger and Kaduna rivers, where flat terrain and seasonal flooding create a mosaic of swamps, shallow lakes, ponds, sandbanks, and rapids. Before gaining Ramsar status, the area was already identified as an Important Bird Area, reflecting its strong ornithological value within the wider Guinea savanna ecoregion.
The floodplain functions as the core zone of a much larger wetland system that stretches from the Bauchi Plateau in the east to the Yoruba highlands in the west, and along the Niger River toward the southern rainforest belt. Its seasonal cycle is shaped by an annual flood, locally known in Hausa as 'fadama', that swells during the rainy season and slowly recedes through the dry months, supporting distinct aquatic and gallery forest habitats.
Conservation significance is closely linked to the site's role for migratory and breeding birds, its gallery forests, and its rich fish fauna. Human pressures, including large-scale rice and sugarcane cultivation and the upstream effects of the Kainji and Shiroro dams, have significantly reduced the extent and natural dynamics of the floodplain since the 1970s.
