The Nile: Top 10 things to know about Earth’s longest river

1. You know the saying, denial is not just a river in Egypt? Well, the Nile is not just in Egypt – only 22% of it is!
2. For the romance and prestige of it, the great European explorers of the 19th century, like Richard Burton and David Livingstone lusted to discover the source of the River Nile, seen as the world’s most important river.
3. The river’s main tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, merge in Khartoum in the Sudan and eventually empty into the Mediterranean Sea.
4. The source of the Blue Nile is Lake Tana in northwestern Ethiopia.
5. The source of the White Nile is Jinja in Uganda, on the shores of Lake Victoria, main reservoir of the Nile and the largest tropical lake in the world.
6. The Nile is so long – 4160 miles – and its basins so huge (about 10% of Africa), the river may actually flow through as many as ten African nations – Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Egypt, Tanzania and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
7. The main waterfall of the Blue Nile is known locally as Tis Isat (smoking water) in Ethiopia
8. The main waterfall of the White Nile is Murchison Falls in Uganda, where the Nile roars through a gap in the rocks, just 23-feet wide, then plunges 141 feet below to a swirling pool known as the Devil’s Cauldron. Murchison Falls is the most powerful natural flow of water anywhere on earth.
9. Legends and myths about the mysterious river abound – in Ethiopia, for instance, the Nile is considered holy and is believed to be the Biblical river that flows out of the Garden of Eden.
10. Wildlife is rife along the Uganda stretch of the Nile – crocs, hippos, elephants, etc., some 400 species of birds plus Nile perch and Tigerfish.

* Courtesy of Premier Safaris.