River · Solomon Islands
Mbokokimbo River
The Mbokokimbo is a river on Guadalcanal, the main island of the Solomon Islands. It runs down from the forested mountains of the interior and reaches the sea on the island's coast.
Where is the Mbokokimbo River?
The river starts here: mountains in the interior of Guadalcanal.
It ends in the the north coast of Guadalcanal, near Ruavatu.
Countries on the river: the Solomon Islands.
The story behind it
Guadalcanal has a wall of mountains down its middle, and rain falls there almost every day, so the island is covered in short, fast rivers. The Mbokokimbo is one of the longest of them, though sources disagree about which river on the island really comes first; it reaches the sea on the north coast, near Ruavatu. In the upper valley the water jumps over rocks, cool and clear under tall trees where parrots screech. Lower down it slows, spreads gravel banks and runs past gardens of taro, banana and coconut palms. Children swim in the calm pools and people cross on logs or simple bridges. After a tropical storm the river can swell within hours, turn brown and carry whole tree trunks, so villages keep their houses well back from the bank.
Questions children ask
How long is the Mbokokimbo River?
It measures about 98.7 km. For an island river that is a lot, but the figure should be treated with care, because the rivers of Guadalcanal are only roughly surveyed.
Which countries does the Mbokokimbo River flow through?
Only through the Solomon Islands. The whole river lies on Guadalcanal, so it stays inside one island and one country.
Where does the Mbokokimbo River flow into?
Into the sea on the north coast of Guadalcanal, near the village of Ruavatu.
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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