Nemunėlis

Nemunėlis River, Mēmele River
Mēmele in Bauska city
Origin	Lūšna lake in Rokiškis district
Mouth	Lielupe River
Basin countries	Lithuania and Latvia
Length	191 km
Avg. discharge	95 m³/s
Basin area	4048 km²

Nemunėlis (Latvian: Mēmele) is a river in northern Lithuania and southern Latvia. It originates 6 km south of Rokiškis. It is 191 kilometres long (75 km in Lithuania, 76 km on the Lithuanian-Latvian border and 40km in Latvia) before its confluence with the Mūša, near Bauska, forming the Lielupe.

This river does not belong to the basin of the larger river Neman, but the two rivers' names are related in several languages:

• in Lithuanian, "Nemunėlis" is a diminutive form of "Nemunas" (Neman River)
• in German, "Memel" is used for both the Neman River and the city of Klaipėda, and "Memele" is its diminutive form
• in Latvian, the river is called "Mēmele", possibly derived from German, or directly from Old Prussian in which it is thought to mean "surrounded by water"
• in Estonian, it is called "Memele jõgi"

The European Union gave 100,000 euros to establish tourist routes along the Nemunėlis. It is expected that the Latvian and Lithuanian initiative will be completed in 2007, as new kayak and boat rental businesses open and new campsites, tourist guides, and information signs are prepared.^[1]

References

1. ^ (Lithuanian) Kęstutis Slavinskas, Nemunėlis pritaikomas turizmui, Šiaurės rytai, May 17, 2006. Hosted on Turistas.lt portal. Accessed August 1, 2006.

Coordinates: 56°24′N 24°09′E / 56.4°N 24.15°E / 56.4; 24.15