River · Tanzania
Rufiji
Rufiji is the longest river of Tanzania in East Africa. Over roughly 600 kilometres it carries water from the southern highlands to the Indian Ocean, reaching the sea opposite Mafia Island.
Picture credit: Richard Mortel (CC BY 2.0) · Richard Mortel (CC BY 2.0) · BBM Explorer, Ipswich, United Kingdom (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Rufiji?
The river starts here: Southern highlands of Tanzania, where the Kilombero and the Luwegu meet.
It ends in the Indian Ocean, opposite Mafia Island.
Countries on the river: Tanzania.
The story behind it
The Rufiji is formed where two big rivers meet, and then it rolls east through one of the largest protected wildernesses in Africa. Elephants bathe in its shallows, hippos snort in the deeper pools, and crocodiles lie like logs on the sandbanks. Wild dogs, lions and buffalo come down to drink at dusk. In the rainy season the water can rise many metres and spill across a huge floodplain, leaving lakes that slowly dry out and feed fresh grass for the herds. Near the coast the Rufiji splits into several arms and builds a delta of mangroves, the biggest in East Africa, where prawns and young fish grow up. A large dam in the middle course now makes electricity, which has changed how the water flows downstream.
Questions children ask
How long is the Rufiji?
The Rufiji is about 600 kilometres long. Counted with its long headwaters it would be even longer, but the name Rufiji only begins where two rivers join.
Which country does the Rufiji flow through?
The Rufiji flows only through Tanzania. It crosses the south-east of the country, including a famous national park full of big animals.
Where does the Rufiji end?
The Rufiji flows into the Indian Ocean opposite Mafia Island. Before that it fans out into a wide mangrove delta with many channels.
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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