Diafarabé is a village and rural commune of the Cercle of Ténenkou in the Mopti Region of

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

. The commune is at the southern boundary of the '' cercle''. It covers an area of approximately 980 square kilometers and extends on both sides of the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through ...

. The commune includes 10 villages and in the 2009 census had a population of 15,748. The main village of Diafarabé, the ''

chef-lieu An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lux ...

'', is situated on the north bank of the river next to the junction with the Diaka Channel, a

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributar ...

that only flows when the Niger is in flood. A market takes place in the village on Mondays and serves many settlements in the surrounding area. Every year in late November thousands of cattle are shepherded across the Diaka as they return to the grazing areas in the

Inner Niger Delta The Inner Niger Delta, also known as the Macina or Masina, is the inland delta of the Niger River. It is an area of fluvial wetlands, lakes and floodplains in the semi-arid Sahel area of central Mali, just south of the Sahara desert. Location ...

. The ''Traversée des Animaux'' is an important festival for village..

References

Communities on the Niger River Communes of Mopti Region {{Mopti-geo-stub