Rurubu River
| Ruvubu River Rurubu, Ruvuvu | |
|---|---|
The Ruvubu at its confluence with Kagera as seen from Rwanda. The Ruvubu comes from the left of the image. | |
| Location | |
| Countries | Burundi, Tanzania |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Nyagasumira River |
| • location | Gitega, Burundi |
| • coordinates | 3°41′04″S 29°48′31″E / 3.684350°S 29.808489°E |
| • elevation | 2,030 m (6,660 ft) |
| Mouth | Kagera River |
• location | Kagera Region,Tanzania |
• coordinates | 2°23′23″S 30°46′52″E / 2.38972°S 30.78111°E |
• elevation | 1,322 m (4,337 ft) |
| Length | 313.8 km (195.0 mi) |
| Basin size | 12,230 km2 (4,722 sq mi) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Mouth |
| • average | 100.7 m3 (3,556 cu ft) |
| • minimum | 23.80 m3 (840.5 cu ft) |
| • maximum | 239.9 m3 (8,471 cu ft) |
| Basin features | |
| Progression | Kagerai → Lake Victoria → White Nile → Nile → Mediterranean Sea |
| Population | 4,055,031 (2016) |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Kinyankuru, Ndurumu, Kavurugu, Cizanye |
| • right | Mubarazi, Ruvyironza, Nyabaha, Kayongozi |
The Ruvubu River (also spelt Rurubu and Ruvuvu) is a river in central Africa whose waters gather from the most distant, southern portion of the Nile basin. It has a total length of 416 kilometres (258 miles) and a drainage basin of 14,000 km2 (5,400 sq mi). It rises in the north of Burundi, near the town of Kayanza and then does a southward arc through Burundi, being joined by the Ruvyironza River near Gitega. From there it runs northeast, through the Ruvubu National Park, up to the Tanzanian border. After a stretch along the border, the Ruvubu crosses properly into Tanzania, before joining the Kagera River on the Tanzania–Rwanda border approximately 2 km (1.2 mi) upstream from Rusumo Falls.
The Ruvubu gets its name from the Kirundi word for hippopatamus, imvubu, because the river is home to a large population of hippos.