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General Information
Mountains in the South
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The Nile
The waters of the River Nile gather from many
countries: Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and
Uganda. The contribution of Sudan and that of Egypt
is negligible. Of the total volume, 84% comes from
Ethiopia and 16% from the lake plateau of central
Africa. The Nile Basin covers an area of 1,100,000
square miles, roughly one-tenth of the area of Af-
rica. The main Nile is formed by the confluence of
the White and Blue Niles at Khartoum state, north of
the Bridge of Shembat, between the towns of Om-
durman and Khartoum North. For the 1,880 miles
from Khartoum to the Mediterranean the Nile has no
perennial tributaries and is believed to be the long-
est stretch of river in the world. There are no other
regular tributaries. The Atbara River, which joins the
main Nile 200 miles north of Khartoum, carries large
volumes of water when it is in spate, but is dry for
more than half the year. In the 950 miles of its course
in Sudan there are a number of cataracts; some of
them have great potential for the development of hy-
droelectric power on a large scale.
The White Nile
The White Nile flows for a distance of 2,265 miles,
has various names in its upper reaches. Its most
remote source is the Luveronza River, which rises
in Tanzania about 4,200 miles south of the Mediter-
ranean Sea. The Luveronza joins the Kagera River,
where they flow into Lake Victoria. From this great
freshwater lake (the second largest in the world),
the only outlet is the Victoria Nile, which reaches
swampy Lake Kioga through a series of rapids. Af-
ter another series of falls, of which the Murchison
is the last and most spectacular, the Victoria Nile
passes through Lake Alberta. Entering Sudan at
Nimuli, about 3,100 miles from the sea, the river is
now known as Bahr El Jebel. For the next 100 miles,
there is yet another series of rapids and then the
river embarks on a long journey through the Great
Plains of Sudan. After winding through papyrus
swamps for over 400 miles, Bahr el Jebel reaches
Lake No, where Bahr el Ghazal joins it from the west.
From this point onwards, the main stream is known
as the White Nile. Its total length from Lake No to
Khartoum is about 600 miles. After about 80 miles
from Lake No, it is joined by Sobat River, which runs
down from the mountains of Ethiopia. There are no
other tributaries of any importance of the White Nile
between there and Khartoum.
The Blue Nile
The Blue Nile originates from Lake Tana, which lies
on the Ethiopian plateau about 1,000 miles from
Khartoum. Its course in Sudan is joined by the rivers
Dinder and Rahad between Sennar and Khartoum.