The Gilo River is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in the Gambela Region

Gambela Region

Gambela is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia. Previously known as "Region 12", its capital is Gambela. Lying between the Baro and Akobo Rivers, the western part of Gambela includes the Baro salient....

 of southwestern 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...

. It is also known by a variety of names: the Gimira of Dizu call it the "Mene", while the Gemira of Chako call it "Owis", and Amhara

Amhara people

Amhara are a highland people inhabiting the Northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Numbering about 19.8 million people, they comprise 26% of the country's population, according to the 2007 national census...

 and Oromo

Oromo people

The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...

 settlers in the early 20th century knew it by a third name, "Bako". From its source 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...

 near Mizan Teferi

Mizan Teferi

Mizan Tefere is a town in southern Ethiopia. The largest town, and the administrative center, of the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region , and located about 160 kilometers southwest of Jimma, Mizan Tefere has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of...

 it flows to the west, through Lake Tata to join the Pibor River

Pibor River

The Pibor River is a river in eastern South Sudan, which defines part of South Sudan's border with Ethiopia. From its source near Pibor Post it flows north for about , joining the Baro River to form the Sobat River, which is a tributary of the White Nile.The Pibor and its tributaries drain a...

 on Ethiopia's border with 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...

. The combined waters then join the Sobat River

Sobat River

The Sobat River is a river in South Sudan, Africa. The most southerly of the great eastern tributaries of the Nile, the Sobat enters the White Nile at Doleib Hill, near the city of Malakal in the Upper Nile state of South Sudan...

 and the White Nile

White Nile

The White Nile is a river of Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile from Egypt, the other being the Blue Nile. In the strict meaning, "White Nile" refers to the river formed at Lake No at the confluence of the Bahr al Jabal and Bahr el Ghazal rivers...

.

Lying between the Baro River

Baro River

The Baro River is a river in southwestern Ethiopia, which defines part of Ethiopia's border with South Sudan. From its source in the Ethiopian Highlands it flows west for to join the Pibor River...

 and Akobo River

Akobo River

The Akobo River is a river on the border between South Sudan and Ethiopia. From its source in the Ethiopian Highlands near Mizan Teferi is flows west for to join the Pibor River...

, the Gilo River flows mainly through the Baro Salient, a portion of Ethiopia that juts westward into Sudan. The river valley was subjected to a great deal of prospecting for gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

before World War II and in the 1950s, but not enough was found to make commercial extraction viable.

Jessen, who was part of W.N. McMillan's expedition that travelled through this part of southwestern Ethiopia in 1904, estimated its length at 200 miles, and noted that at flood the width of the Gilo reaches 80 to 100 yards, with a depth of about 20 feet. Jessen further wrote that at the time of his visit

The river abounds with fish, and as a natural consequence the crocodiles are very numerous and large. At midday practically every sandbank is covered with them. It is a remarkable fact that the hippopotami are conspicuous by their absence, only one having been seen and killed many years ago, as these animals are plentiful everywhere else in these countries.