River · Gabon
Ogooué
Ogooué is the great river of Gabon and the longest in the country. It comes from highlands near the Congolese border, curves through dense rainforest and reaches the Gulf of Guinea near Port-Gentil.
Picture credit: Susi4 (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Vainqueur.2 (CC0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Ogooué?
The river starts here: highlands south-east of Gabon, near the border with Congo.
It ends in the the Gulf of Guinea near Port-Gentil.
Countries on the river: Gabon.
The story behind it
The Ogooué carries more water than almost any other river in this part of Africa, and rainforest covers nearly its whole valley. Forest elephants, mandrills, buffalo and hippos come to the banks to drink, and fish eagles call from tall trees. In some places the river breaks into rapids where boats cannot pass, so goods travel by road or railway instead. Lambaréné, an island town in the middle of the water, is known for its old hospital, where doctors have worked for more than a hundred years. Heavy tropical rain makes the river rise twice a year and flood the forest, which then becomes a paddling maze. Books give different lengths for the Ogooué, because its longest headstream begins outside Gabon and nobody counts it the same way.
Questions children ask
How long is the Ogooué?
The Ogooué is usually given as about 1 200 km long. The number varies between sources, because its furthest headstream lies outside Gabon.
Which country does the Ogooué flow through?
Almost the whole river lies in Gabon, where it drains most of the country. Its farthest source streams rise just across the border in the Republic of the Congo.
Where does the Ogooué flow into?
It reaches the Atlantic through the Gulf of Guinea near the port of Port-Gentil. There it forms a wide delta of mangroves, lagoons and sandy islands.
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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