River · Equatorial Guinea
Mbini (Benito)
The Mbini, also called Río Benito, is the main river of mainland Equatorial Guinea. It crosses thick rainforest from east to west and meets the Atlantic Ocean at the town of Mbini.
Picture credit: Blitz1980 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Blitz1980 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Blitz1980 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Mbini (Benito)?
The river starts here: Forested hills in the interior of mainland Equatorial Guinea.
It ends in the Atlantic Ocean at Mbini.
Countries on the river: Equatorial Guinea.
The story behind it
Nobody can say exactly how long this river is: the rainforest hides much of its upper course, and different maps draw it differently, so this book gives no number at all. What is certain is the forest it runs through. Tall trees close over the narrower stretches like a green roof, and the brown water smells of wet leaves. Rapids tumble over rock steps, so boats often have to be carried around them. Forest elephants come down at night to drink, mandrills bark in the treetops, and kingfishers flash blue along the banks. Villages sit on the higher ground, and people travel by canoe when the mud tracks turn to soup in the rainy season. Timber rafts once floated downstream to the coast. At the end the river opens wide and slips quietly into the Atlantic.
Questions children ask
How long is the Mbini?
No reliable length is given here. The upper course runs through dense rainforest, and the figures in different sources do not agree, so it is safer to give none.
Which country does the Mbini flow through?
The Mbini flows through Equatorial Guinea, in the mainland part called Río Muni. It runs west across the forest until it reaches the coast.
Where does the Mbini flow into?
It flows into the Atlantic Ocean beside the town of Mbini, which took the river's name. Near the sea the water widens and moves slowly between sandbanks.
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.
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