Kagera River

Kagera River

The Kagera River is located in East Africa and is the source of the Nile. It originates in Burundi and flows through Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, and partly along the borders between them. The Kagera is formed at the confluence of the Nyawarongo and Ruvuvu rivers near Lake Rweru, from where its length to the mouth is 420 km; if you count from the source of the Rukarara River, which is located in Burundi near the northern edge of Lake Tanganyika and is the furthest point of the Kagera river system from the mouth, its length is about 800 km. The river drains into Lake Victoria.

General information

The Kagera flows northward in a wide marshy valley, receiving the waters of numerous small lakes. Near the village of Kagitumba (the convergence of the borders of Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda), the Kagera turns east and flows into Lake Victoria 40 km north of Bukoba, being the largest of the rivers flowing into the lake. The average annual discharge is 1500 m³/sec. The longest tributary of the Kagera is the Lucarara, the southernmost is the Ruvironza.

In the upper reaches of the river there is the Rusumo Falls, and in the marshy lowlands of the middle reaches the Caguera National Park is organized.

Shipping is impossible along much of the river, with the only port of Kuaka, Tanzania, in the lower reaches serving shallow draft vessels.

History

The Kagera was discovered in 1862 by John Speke’s expedition, but some sources credit the discoverer as Henry Stanley, who visited the river in 1876. Afterward, the river was explored by Austrian O. Baumann (1892-93) and Kandt (1898).

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During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the bodies of the dead flowed down this river into Lake Victoria. Today, the Kagera River is one of central Africa’s most important and relatively tranquil places, with a quiet atmosphere of scenic beauty surrounding it.