The Dinder River is a tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the Blue Nile

Blue Nile

The Blue Nile is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. With the White Nile, the river is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile...

. It flows through Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

 and Sudan

Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

 for 480 kilometres (298.3 mi).

Course

The Dinder River rises in the Ethiopian Highlands

Ethiopian Highlands

The Ethiopian Highlands are a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia, Eritrea , and northern Somalia in the Horn of Africa...

, west of Lake Tana

Lake Tana

Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia...

 in the Ethiopian woreda

Woreda

Woreda is an administrative division of Ethiopia , equivalent to a district . Woredas are composed of a number of Kebele, or neighborhood associations, which are the smallest unit of local government in Ethiopia...

 of Alefa

Alefa

Alefa is one of the 105 woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Semien Gondar Zone, Alefa is bordered on the south by the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, on the west by Qwara, on the northwest by Metemma, on the north by Chilga, on the northeast by Dembiya, on the east by Lake Tana and on...

. It flows northwest out of the highlands and into the plains of the Sudanese state

States of Sudan

Below is a list of the 15 states of Sudan, organized by their original provinces during the period of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Arabic language versions are, as appropriate, in parentheses. States that were not provinces before 1994 are marked with . Transliterations from Arabic to English may vary;...

 of Sennar

Sennar (state)

Sennar is one of the 15 wilayat or states of Sudan. It has an area of 37,844 km² and an estimated population of approximately 1,100,000 . Singa is the capital of Sennar State. Another significant town is Sennar , largest city in the state...

. It meander

Meander

A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...

s across the plains to join the Blue Nile near the town of Sennar

Sennar

Sennar is a town on the Blue Nile in Sudan and capital of the state of Sennar. For several centuries it was the capital of the Funj Kingdom of Sennar. It had an estimated population of 100,000 inhabitants in the early 19th century. The modern town lies 17km SSE of the ruins of the ancient capital...

.

Natural features

The Dinder National Park

Dinder National Park

Dinder National Park is a national park and biosphere reserve in eastern Sudan, on the Sudanese border with Ethiopia approximately 400 kilometers southeast of Khartoum...

 of Sudan, which stretches south from the Dinder, is named after the river. This watershed was previously habitat to the endangered Painted Hunting Dog, lycaon pictus; however, this canid is thought to be extirpated in the region due to expansion of the human population

Overpopulation

Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. The term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth...

and lack of attention to conservation.