River · Kenya
Tana
The Tana is the longest river in Kenya. It begins in the country's central highlands and then flows about 1000 kilometres eastwards, reaching the Indian Ocean near the small coastal town of Kipini.
Picture credit: Tish Madesh (CC0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Tana?
The river starts here: Aberdare Range in the central highlands of Kenya.
It ends in the Indian Ocean near Kipini.
Countries on the river: Kenya.
The story behind it
The Tana gathers its water in the cool mountain forests of the Aberdare Range, then swings in wide curves across the hot, dry plains of eastern Kenya. During the rains it turns broad and muddy; in the dry months it shrinks to narrow channels between sandbanks. Families along the banks depend on that rhythm, planting maize, beans and mangoes in the rich silt the floods leave behind. Hippos wallow in deep pools, crocodiles rest on the mud, and rare monkeys that live nowhere else climb through the riverside forest. Large dams upstream store water and make electricity for distant cities, but farmers and herders further down sometimes wait longer for the river to rise. Near Kipini the Tana spreads into a delta of lagoons, mangroves and reeds where thousands of birds feed.
Questions children ask
How long is the Tana River?
The Tana is about 1000 kilometres long. No other river in Kenya covers a longer distance from the mountains to the sea.
Which country does the Tana flow through?
The Tana stays inside Kenya from beginning to end. It crosses the country from the central highlands to the coast in the east.
Where does the Tana flow into the sea?
The Tana reaches the Indian Ocean near the town of Kipini. Just before the open sea it fans out into a delta of lagoons and mangrove forest.
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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