River · Ethiopia, Sudan
Blue Nile
The Blue Nile flows out of Lake Tana in the highlands of Ethiopia and rushes through a deep gorge into Sudan. At Khartoum it meets the White Nile, and together they form the mighty Nile.
Picture credit: Timothy A. Gonsalves (CC BY-SA 4.0) · jbjelloid (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Blue Nile?
The river starts here: Lake Tana, fed by the Little Abay from the Gish Abay spring, Ethiopia.
It ends in the White Nile at Khartoum, Sudan (forming the Nile).
Countries on the river: Ethiopia, Sudan.
The story behind it
In Ethiopia people call the river Abay. Its headstream, the Little Abay, starts at a spring called Gish Abay and flows into Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia. Hippos live near the spot where the Blue Nile leaves the lake. A little later the river plunges 42 metres down the Blue Nile Falls. Their local name, Tis Abay, means 'great smoke'. In the rainy season the falls can be more than 400 metres wide. Not far below them stands Ethiopia's first stone bridge, built in 1626. Then the river cuts through a gorge more than a kilometre deep. From June to September heavy rains fill it, and it then brings up to about 80 percent of the Nile's water. Near the border with Sudan stands the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa.
Questions children ask
How long is the Blue Nile?
The Blue Nile is about 1 450 km long. Because people measure from different starting points, sources give lengths between about 1 450 and 1 780 km.
What is the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam?
Where does the Blue Nile end?
At Khartoum in Sudan, the Blue Nile joins the White Nile. From there the two flow on together as the Nile towards Egypt.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
Last checked: