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River

Ruzizi River

117 km from source to mouth · Burundi, Rwanda and DR Congo.

BurundiRwandaDR CongoBurundi, Rwanda and DR CongoFlows into Lake Tanganyika2nd longest in Burundi

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

117km

Average flow

400m³/s

Basin

13,519km²

Drop

663m

from 1,430 m to 767 m

Countries

3

The journey

From source to mouth

117 km of river and 8 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,430 m767 m
Lake Kivuat 1,430 m0 km
Bugarama31,086 people31 km
Kaburantwa Rivertributary77 km
Lake Tanganyikaat 767 m117 km
0255075100117 km
  1. 0 kmLake Kivuat 1,430 m
  2. 0 kmPont Ruzizi I
  3. 0 kmCyangugu43,866 people
  4. 0 kmLake Kivu2,401 km²
  5. 3 kmRuzizi I Hydroelectric Power Station
  6. 3 kmPont Ruzizi II
  7. 31 kmBugarama31,086 people
  8. 77 kmKaburantwa Rivertributary
  9. 111 kmGatumba18,104 people
  10. 117 kmLake Tanganyikaat 767 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Central Africa

At the mouth it carries 400 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 6.2 seconds. It drops from 1,430 m to 767 m, 5.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 13,519 km², about the size of BS. 4.7 million people live in it. Highest water: from March to April; lowest: from July to October. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • CyanguguLargest city on its banks · 43,866 people
  • Kamembe Airport (KME)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 2 km from the city
  • From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Ruzizi River, month by month

Highest water: from March to April

Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from June to September.

140
23°119 mmJan
140
23°118 mmFeb
160
23°150 mmMar
180
23°149 mmApr
150
23°91 mmMay
92
23°22 mmJun
38
23°8 mmJul
18
24°20 mmAug
31
24°56 mmSep
62
24°94 mmOct
100
23°121 mmNov
140
23°130 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 18 m³/s in the lowest month to 180 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Car hire in BurundiDiscover CarsSee 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Ruzizi River: the basin in numbers

13,519 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.1% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 4.7millionpeople live in the basin
  • 376/km²people per km²
  • 1,670maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,414mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 19.0°Caverage air temperature
  • 13%protected areas
  • 17.9%covered by lakes
  • 0.0km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 41% Forest
  • 19% Cropland
  • 11% Pasture
  • 18% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Ruzizi River: what you find on the way

  • 1DamsBarrage Ruzizi
  • 1Weirs

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Ruzizi River in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 1lake on its wayLakeyas
  • 3mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (1)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Lake Kivukm 0 · 485 m deep2,401km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (3)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Karambi12 km away
  2. Gatare12 km away
  3. Kabacuku13 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Ruzizi River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Ruzizi River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth16 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

Ruzizi River in pictures

La Rivière du parc national rusizi
Danlie · CC BY-SA 4.0
RusiziRiver
No machine-readable author provided. Amakuru assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0
Etreinte des Eaux, Le Lac Tanganyika et la Rivière Rusizi
Johanna ciella · CC BY-SA 4.0
L'eau de la rivière Rusizi
Ajil12 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (2)

Also: Rubyiro River, Kaburantwa River

In the same basin

River CongoAngolaAngola4,700 km41,800 m³/sKasai RiverRepublic of the CongoRepublic of the Congo2,272 km12,000 m³/sUbangi RiverCentral African RepublicCentral African Republic1,060 km5,900 m³/sKwango RiverDR CongoDR Congo1,770 km2,700 m³/sUeleDR CongoDR Congo1,210 km1,500 m³/sLomami RiverDR CongoDR Congo1,280 km3,000 m³/sSanghaRepublic of the CongoRepublic of the Congo785 km2,500 m³/sEbola RiverDR CongoDR Congo250 km320 m³/sMbomou RiverCentral African RepublicCentral African Republic800 km1,300 m³/sLuvua RiverDR CongoDR Congo350 km600 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Mugere RiverBurundiBurundi293 km100 m³/s11 km awayRuhwa RiverRwandaRwanda50 km6.0 m³/s77 km awayMubarazi RiverBurundiBurundi67 km28 m³/s80 km awayNyabarongo RiverRwandaRwanda300 km110 m³/s170 km awayRurubu RiverTanzaniaTanzania300 km100 m³/s201 km awayAkanyaru RiverRwandaRwanda212 km110 m³/s174 km awayMalagarasi RiverTanzaniaTanzania475 km340 m³/s218 km awayKagera RiverUgandaUganda400 km350 m³/s390 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q748195) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit