10. Okavango River
At nearly 1,000 miles long, the Okavango River begins in Angola and winds through Namibia before entering Botswana and draining into the Moremi Game Reserve in Southwest Africa. The Delta area in Botswana is home to a stunning variety of wildlife, and tourists often visit on safari or ecotourism expeditions. A large hippo population can be found here, and tens of thousands of flamingos congregate in the Makgadikgadi Pans region every summer.
9. Senegal River
The Senegal River eventually empties into the Atlantic Ocean, but not before its impressive 1,110 mile-passage through Guinea, Senegal, Mali, and Mauritania. When it was originally discovered by early Mediterranean civilizations, it was noted by great thinkers of the time such as Pliny the Elder and Claudius Ptolemy. It served as a key hub for trade to the Mediterranean world until the destruction of Carthage and its West African trade circle in 146 BC. It later regained its role in more modern times.
8. Limpopo River
It is unclear exactly how long the Limpopo River runs – its drainage basin covers more than 160,000 square miles. It does pass through Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Botswana before entering the Indian Ocean. Vasco de Gama is thought to be the first European to see the river in 1498, but there has been human civilization in the area as far back as historians can tell. The river is known for its relatively small-but-unnerving population of freshwater Zambezi sharks, as well as the 15,000 crocodiles that were released into the river in 2013 from the nearby Rakwena Crocodile Farm.
7. Orange River
Sometimes referred to as the Oranjerivier, Gariep River, Groote River, or Sengu River (it really depends who you ask I guess), the Orange River rises in the Drakensberg Mountains in Lesotho and South Africa and travels 1,300 miles through Namibia and Botswana before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean. It represents the international border between South Africa, Namibia and Lesotho, and provides a major source of water and hydroelectric power for all three. The river is crucial for the region’s agriculture and mining industries, as well as recreational activity such as rafting and canoeing.
6. Kasai River
Though it’s just a tributary of the Congo River, the Kasai River stretches nearly 1,340 miles through Central Africa. Beginning in Angola, it flows into the Democratic Republic of the Congo and serves as the border between the two countries. While it supports the rainforest areas on its banks, it is also home to a sometimes-booming diamond industry. From its waters, raw diamonds are mined and shipped to Belgium for cutting and shaping.
5. Ubangi–Uele River
Technically made up of two rivers (the Ubangi River and the Uele River), the Ubangi-Uele River stretches 1,450 miles through the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, and the Republic of Congo. It represents an important transport artery for the Bangui and Brazzaville Rivers, as well as a key boundary between the CAR and the DRC.
4. Zambezi River
Coming in at 1,600 miles and some change, the Zambezi River shows its impressive size through Zambia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Namibia, and Botswana. It is the largest African river that flows into the Indian Ocean, and is home to the magnificent Victoria Falls that put all other waterfalls to shame, though its dozens of other falls are also pretty stellar. It also represents an important source of hydroelectric power through the Kariba Dam (for Zambia and Zimbabwe) and the Cahora Bassa Dam (for Mozambique and South Africa).
3. Niger River
Heading into the big dogs of the African rivers, the Niger River stretches 2,600 miles through Nigeria, Mali, Niger, Algeria, Guinea, Cameroon,, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, and Chad. It is the principal river of Western Africa, and most of its alternate names translate to “great river,” “great water,” or “river of rivers” (the river so great they named it twice?). Timbuktu in Mali was a major stop on the trans-Saharan trade route to the Western Mediterranean, so the Niger represented a key portal to the rest of the world and the basis of most European knowledge of the region for a long time.
2. Congo–Chambeshi River
At 2,922 miles, the Congo-Chambeshi River, usually just referred to as the Congo River, is the second-largest river in Africa. Running through Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Cameroon, Tanzania, Republic of Congo, Angola, Central African Republic, and Democratic Republic of the Congo, it is sometime still referred to as the Zaire River after the formerly-named country. It is the world’s deepest river – some depths have been measured at upwards of 700 feet – and is the region’s most important transportation route in a country with little infrastructure. It also helps support other industries along its banks including copper, palm oil, sugar, coffee, and cotton.
1.Nile River
It’s no surprise that the Nile River comes in at first place for the longest river in Africa, streching an impressive 4,132 miles through Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania,Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Egypt, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan. While it is an integral waterway through the continent, it is particularly important to Egypt and Sudan/South Sudan, serving as their primary water resource and international transportation route. Most of the more populous Egyptian cities are along the Nile, and civilization in the region has been spurred by the river since ancient times. The Nile eventually ends in a large delta that dumps into the Mediterranean Sea.
