Ruzizi River

Ruzizi River

transboundary river

Official name	Rusizi
Origin of the watercourse	Lake Kivu
Mouth of the watercourse	Lake Tanganyika
Tributary	Kaburantwa River
Drainage basin	Congo Basin
Basin country	Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Country	Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda
Coordinate location	3°21′52″S 29°16′6″E, 2°29′25″S 28°53′35″E
Heritage designation	Ramsar site

De Ruzizi (dem sanso sometimes spell Rusizi, French; Rivière Ruzizi; Dutch: Ruzizi Rivier) be a river, 117 kilometres (73 mi) long, wey dey flow from Lake Kivu to Lake Tanganyika insyd Central Africa, wey dey descend from about 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) to about 770 metres (2,530 ft) above sea level over ein length. De steepest gradients occur over de first 40 kilometres (25 mi), wer dem build hydroelectric dams. Further downstream, de Ruzizi Plain, de floor of de Western Rift Valley, get gentle hills, wey de river dey flow into Lake Tanganyika thru a delta, plus one anaa two small channels wey dey split off from de main channel.

De Ruzizi be a young river, dem form about 10,000 years ago wen volcanism associate plus continental rifting create de Virunga Mountains. De mountains block Lake Kivu ein former outlet to de drainage basin of de Nile den instead force de lake overflow south down de Ruzizi den de drainage basin of de Congo.

Course

Ruzizi River dey flow into Lake Tanganyika

Along ein upstream reaches, de river dey form part of de border between Rwanda on de east plus de Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on de west. Further downstream, e dey form part of de border between de DRC den Burundi, den ein lowermost reach dey lie entirely within Burundi. To de west, de Fizi Baraka mountains tower over de river. De Bridge of Concord, Burundi ein longest bridge, dey cross de river near ein mouth. Tributaries of de Ruzizi River dey include de Nyamagana, Muhira, Kaburantwa, Kagunuzi, Rubyiro den Ruhwa, among odas.

De Ruzizi River, wey dey flow south into Lake Tanganyika, be part of de upper watershed of de Congo River. Nineteenth-century British explorers such as Richard Francis Burton den John Hanning Speke, uncertain of de direction of flow of de Ruzizi, think say e fi flow north out of de lake toward de White Nile. Dema research den follow-up explorations by David Livingstone den Henry Morton Stanley establish say na dis no be de case. De Ruzizi dey flow into Lake Tanganyika, wich dey overflow into de Lukuga River about 120 kilometres (75 mi) south of Ujiji. De Lukuga dey flow west into de Lualaba River, a major tributary of de Congo.