II.

Course of the Nile

The Luvironza is one of the upper branches of the Kagera River in Tanzania. The Kagera follows the boundary of Rwanda northwards, turns along the boundary of Uganda, and drains into Lake Victoria, which lies at a height of 1,134 m (3,717 ft) above sea level. On leaving Lake Victoria at the site of the now-submerged Ripon Falls, the Nile rushes for 483 km (300 mi) between high rocky walls and over rapids and cataracts, at first north-west and then west, until it enters Lake Albert. The section between the two lakes is called the Victoria Nile. The river leaves the northern end of Lake Albert as the Albert Nile, flows through northern Uganda, and at the Sudan border becomes the Bahr al-Jabal. At its junction with the Bahr al-Ghazal, the river becomes the Bahr al-Abyad, or the White Nile. Various tributaries flow through the Bahr al-Ghazal district.

At Khartoum the White Nile is joined by the Blue Nile, or Bahr al-Azraq. These are so named because of the colour of the water. The Blue Nile, 1,529 km (950 mi) long, gathers its volume mainly from Lake Tana, in the Ethiopian Highlands; it is known here as the Abbai. From Khartoum the Nile flows north-east; 322 km (200 mi) below that city, it is joined by the Atbara River. The black sediment brought down by this river settles in the Nile delta and makes it very fertile. During its course from the confluence of the Atbara through the Nubian Desert, the river makes two deep bends. Below Khartoum navigation is rendered dangerous by cataracts, the first occurring north of Khartoum and the sixth near Aswān. The Nile enters the Mediterranean Sea by a delta that separates into the Rosetta and Damietta distributaries.