The N'Mai runs parallel to the Mali River, and has its source in the Himalayan glaciers of eastern Tibet at about 28° north latitude.

The confluence is "one of the most significant cultural heritage sites for the Kachin people and an important landmark for all of Burma.

[4] More recently, Kalaya Lu, Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Botany at Myitkyina University between 2002 and 2006, published a paper on plant diversity in the river watershed, concluding that it consists of different ecosystems, ranging in elevation from 800 metres to more than 4,600 metres, and containing some of the richest areas of Sino-Himalaya flora diversity in the world.

[2] In 2007, the government of Myanmar signed an agreement with China Power Investment Corporation to construct a series of dams on the Ayeyarwady, Mali, and N’Mai rivers.

[3] Construction started in 2008[5] and a local protest about one of the dams at Chibwe met with government suppression.