River · Burundi
Ruvubu
Ruvubu is the longest river in Burundi, a small country in East Africa. It begins in green hill country, flows north-east and finally joins the Kagera, whose water travels on towards the Nile.
Picture credit: SteveRwanda (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Irangabiye (CC0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Ruvubu?
The river starts here: Hill country of central Burundi.
It ends in the Kagera River (Nile basin).
Countries on the river: Burundi.
The story behind it
The Ruvubu flows through a landscape of steep green hills, banana gardens and red earth roads. Along part of its course lies Ruvubu National Park, where hippos snort in the shallows, buffalo come down to drink and antelopes move through tall grass. In the rainy season the river swells and turns brown with soil, spilling over flat meadows; in the dry months it grows calm and narrow. Families use the water for washing, for fishing and for their fields. What makes this river special is where its water goes: it feeds the Kagera, which many researchers call the most distant beginning of the Nile. Experts do not fully agree about it, though. Some maps count the whole course, others only the stretch inside Burundi, so the exact length is still discussed.
Questions children ask
How long is the Ruvubu?
The Ruvubu is about 416 kilometres long. Not every map agrees, because some of them measure only the part that lies inside Burundi. Either way, it is the country's longest river.
Which countries does the Ruvubu flow through?
Where does the Ruvubu end?
It flows into the Kagera River. The Kagera carries the water to Lake Victoria, and from there it travels on with the Nile. So a drop from Burundi can end up far away in northern Africa.
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: