Nyabarongo
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Nyabarongo Rukarara-Nyabarongo, Njawarongo |
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 The Nyabarongo in the catchment area of the Kagera (middle) |
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| Data | ||
| location |
 Rwanda Burundi
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| River system | Nile | |
| Drain over | Kagera Nile → Victoria Nile → Albert Nile → Bahr al-Jabal → White Nile → Nile → Mediterranean | |
| source | as Rukarara in Nyungwe Forest | |
| Source height | 2700 m | |
| muzzle | into the Rugwero Lake (outflow then Kagera-Nile ) Coordinates: 2 ° 21 '14 " S , 30 ° 21' 50" E 2 ° 21 '14 " S , 30 ° 21' 50" E |
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| Mouth height | 1500 m | |
| Height difference | 1200 m | |
| Bottom slope | 4 ‰ | |
| length | 300 km | |
| Discharge at the Kanzenze gauge (1870600) A Eo : 14,600 km² |
NNQ (min. Month Ø) MNQ 1965–1984 MQ 1965–1984 Mq 1965–1984 MHQ 1965–1984 HHQ (max. Month Ø) |
29 m³ / s 68 m³ / s 109 m³ / s 7.5 l / (s km²) 190 m³ / s 278 m³ / s |
| Left tributaries | Satinsyi, Mukungwa , Base, Baramba, Cyacika, Nyabugogo, Kitazigurwa, Isumo | |
| Right tributaries | Mwogo , Sumo, Bakokwe, Gikoro, Nyamagana, Ruboroga, Akanyara, Mwesa | |
 The Nyabarongo near Kigali |
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The Nyabarongo (also Rukarara-Nyabarongo ) is one of the two longest source rivers of the Nile . Analogous to the “ Burundian headwaters” Luvironza - Ruvuvu , it is called the “Rwandan headwaters” of the White Nile.
course
It rises 40 km southeast of Lake Kiwu in equatorial East Africa in a mountain range in Rwanda . The actual source river of the Nyabarongo is called Rukarara (French Source du Nil - Nilquelle) and comes from an altitude of about 2,700 meters in the Nyungwe Forest Nature Park , a heavily forested mountain range that accompanies the eastern edge of Lake Kiwu.
The Rukarara takes on the Mwogo on its course in an easterly direction after about 50 km and is called Nyabarongo from here. The river turns to the north, winds between two mountain ranges and absorbs the water-rich Mukungwa from the Virunga volcanoes (up to 4507 m). Here it swings abruptly from north to south-east due to the East African rift valley.
After this "geological bend", and increased by tributaries from the four thousand meter peaks of the Virunga volcanoes, the Nyabarongo heads towards Kigali , but flows around the Rwandan capital in an arc of 5 to 10 km to the west. South of the city, after about 225 km in north and east direction, it joins at about 1500 m above sea level with the 165 km long Akanyaru (Akanjaru) coming from Burundi . From here, like the Akanyaru, it can be navigated by ships with a shallow draft in its lower reaches .
The Nyabarongo continues its course on the border of Rwanda and Burundi in a southeast direction through the Mugesera-Rugwero swamps and finally flows into the Rugwero Lake ( Lac Rweru ). The mouth of the Nyabarongo is directly in the area of the outflow of the lake. It is directly connected to the outflowing Kagera Nile via estuary arms .
Hydrometry
Average monthly flow of the Nyabarongo (1965–1984) measured at the hydrological station in Kanzenze in m³ / s.
Naming
Depending on the source, the different sections of the Nyabarongo are called differently. In some sources, for example, the Rukarara is mentioned as a tributary of the Mwogo, which only forms the Nyabarongo at the confluence with the Mukungwa. Or in the German colonial dictionary, the Kagera gets its name at the confluence of the Akanyaru and the Nyabarongo.
Another outflow as a source of the Nile
As soon as it leaves the Rugwero Lake, the river is named Akagera (also Kagera). It turns again (this time to the north) and forms the Tanzanian border for another 200 km along the Akagera swamps and a number of lakes. After passing through it, it bends sharply to the east at the border triangle with Uganda , where it forms the largest tributary of Lake Victoria . In the north of this second largest freshwater lake in the world (68,870 km²) the Viktorianil forms, which later - on its course through Uganda and South Sudan - will widen into the Mountain Nile and finally the White Nile . The Rukarara-Nyabarongo represents the second longest source river to this next to the Amazon longest river in the world (6,671 km) .
geology
The course of the Nyabarongo leads through a geologically active area. Its springs are located around the edge of the East African Rift - a thousand kilometers long geological fault that extends far down into the earth's crust. However, the neighboring Kiwu Lake drains south - via Lake Tanganyika - into the huge catchment area of the Congo , so that the main African watershed is located close to the sources of the Nyabarongo . It was explored in 1898 by the East Africa explorer Richard Kandt in search of the Nile springs.
Geologists also attribute the sudden extreme change of direction to the striking tectonics during the formation of the deep East African rift system . Such changes in course due to geological fault lines can also be found in alpine rivers, for example on the Salzach and at the beginning of the Rhine valley .