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River

White Nile

2,620 km from source to mouth · 6 countries.

SudanUgandaRwandaTanzaniaSouth SudanDR CongoSudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan and DR CongoFlows into Nile1st longest in Sudan

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

2,620km

Average flow

880m³/s

Basin

1,059,000km²

Drop

760m

from 1,133 m to 373 m

Countries

6

The journey

From source to mouth

2,620 km of river and 54 stops on the way: 19 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,133 m373 m
Lake Victoriaat 1,133 m0 km
Lake Kwania2,788 km²188 km
Lake Albert5,527 km²511 km
Juba450,000 people820 km
Lake Jalarei2.5 km²877 km
Lake Nuong35 km²1,184 km
Lake No47 km²1,479 km
Malakal160,765 people1,622 km
Kosti345,068 people2,122 km
Khartoum5,345,000 people2,429 km
Nileat 373 m2,620 km
01,0002,0002,620 km
  1. 0 kmLake Victoriaat 1,133 m
  2. 2 kmLake Victoria67,166 km²
  3. 2 kmJinja93,061 people
  4. 2 kmRipon Falls
  5. 3 kmNew Jinja Bridge
  6. 3 kmOwen Falls
  7. 4 kmNalubaale Hydroelectric Power Station
  8. 4 kmNjeru178,800 people
  9. 11 kmBujagali Falls
  10. 24 kmBusowa Falls
  11. 26 kmItanda Falls
  12. 28 kmKalagala Falls
  13. 188 kmLake Kwania2,788 km²
  14. 219 kmKafutributary
  15. 313 kmNew Karuma Bridge
  16. 314 kmKaruma Falls
  17. 386 kmMurchison Falls43 m
  18. 425 kmWanseko13,616 people
  19. 467 kmPakwach28,700 people
  20. 468 kmAlbert Nile Bridge
  21. 502 kmOra Rivertributary
  22. 511 kmLake Albert5,527 km²
  23. 668 kmFula Rapids
  24. 675 kmAchwatributary
  25. 819 kmJuba Nile Bridge
  26. 820 kmJuba450,000 people
  27. 877 kmLake Jalarei2.5 km²
  28. 884 kmLake Bayer5.3 km²
  29. 987 kmBor26,782 people
  30. 1,009 kmLake Fajarial2.5 km²
  31. 1,031 kmLake Papiu2.9 km²
  32. 1,184 kmLake Nuong35 km²
  33. 1,479 kmLake No47 km²
  34. 1,480 kmBahr el Ghazal Rivertributary
  35. 1,492 kmMay‘a Sinyora1.7 km²
  36. 1,537 kmNyibodo12 km²
  37. 1,542 kmMay‘a Berboi2.2 km²
  38. 1,553 kmBahr el Zeraftributary
  39. 1,603 kmSobat Rivertributary
  40. 1,622 kmMalakal160,765 people
  41. 1,757 kmAdar Rivertributary
  42. 2,116 kmRabak135,281 people
  43. 2,122 kmKosti345,068 people
  44. 2,139 kmAl Jazeera Aba21,683 people
  45. 2,196 kmAl Kawa10,167 people
  46. 2,207 kmUm Jar Al Gharbiyya9,038 people
  47. 2,216 kmALdinigila wad dhahi15,000 people
  48. 2,231 kmAd Douiem87,068 people
  49. 2,288 kmWad az Zāki9,271 people
  50. 2,322 kmAl-Quṭaynah26,893 people
  51. 2,341 kmAl Qiţena18,321 people
  52. 2,417 kmAl-Dabasin Bridge
  53. 2,429 kmKhartoum5,345,000 people
  54. 2,429 kmOmdurman Bridge
  55. 2,430 kmOmdurman1,849,659 people
  56. 2,620 kmNileat 373 m

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

River in Africa and tributary of the Nile River

At the mouth it carries 878 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.8 seconds. It drops from 1,133 m to 373 m, 0.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,059,000 km², about the size of MR. 104 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to October; lowest: from January to April. Its dams hold back little of its water (8.7% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • KhartoumLargest city on its banks · 5,345,000 people
  • Khartoum International Airport (KRT)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 3 km from the city
  • On the water33 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From November to FebruaryThe best months to visit

White Nile, month by month

Highest water: from August to October

Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from November to February.

600
26°8 mmJan
230
27°13 mmFeb
230
28°32 mmMar
550
28°69 mmApr
1,000
28°86 mmMay
1,500
27°89 mmJun
2,200
26°118 mmJul
2,900
26°142 mmAug
3,200
26°109 mmSep
3,000
27°84 mmOct
2,200
27°38 mmNov
1,200
26°13 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 230 m³/s in the lowest month to 3,200 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 SudanDiscover 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

White Nile: the basin in numbers

1,670,777 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Lightly regulatedReservoirs can hold 8.7% of a year's flow.
  • 104millionpeople live in the basin
  • 64/km²people per km²
  • 767maverage altitude of the basin
  • 894mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 25.3°Caverage air temperature
  • 12%protected areas
  • 4.9%covered by lakes
  • 3.6km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 15% Forest
  • 15% Cropland
  • 46% Pasture
  • 2% 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

White Nile: what you find on the way

  • 7DamsOwen Falls Dam, Nalubaale Power Station, Kiira Power Station and 4 more
  • 1Weirs
  • 7WaterfallsBusowooko Falls, Kalagala Falls, Itanda Falls and 4 more
  • 3Boat rampsNile River Explorers
  • 25Ferry piersJinja Port, Nile Boat Cruise, Paraa Ferry - Northern Bank and 22 more
  • 5MarinasJinja Port, Jinja Sailing Club, Paraa Landing site and 2 more
  • 1River beaches

From OpenStreetMap, within 3.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

White Nile 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.

  • 9waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
  • 12lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 24mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Waterfalls (9)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Ripon Fallskm 2
  2. Owen Fallskm 3
  3. Bujagali Fallskm 11
  4. Busowa Fallskm 24
  5. Itanda Fallskm 26
  6. Karuma Fallskm 312
  7. Murchison Fallskm 38343m
  8. Fula Rapidskm 664

1 more on CascadyasCascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

Lakes and reservoirs (12)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Lake Victoriakm 2 · 83 m deep67,166km²
  2. Lake Kwaniakm 1862,788km²
  3. Lake Albertkm 508 · 58 m deep5,527km²
  4. Lake Bayerkm 8785.3km²
  5. Lake Papiukm 1,0242.9km²
  6. Lake Nuongkm 1,17635km²
  7. Lake Nokm 1,47047km²
  8. Nyibodokm 1,52812km²

4 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (24)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Kimaka4.3 km away1,180m
  2. Buwenda5.8 km away
  3. Nkungwe15 km away
  4. Nakyesanja11 km away
  5. Muganga6.0 km away
  6. Msoli14 km away
  7. Kiunga9.1 km away
  8. Butiki8.9 km away

16 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

White Nile: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
White Nile: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth176 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

White Nile in pictures

Sudan Juba bridge
User DEMOSH on flickr.com · CC BY 2.0
A track and pedestrians cross the Albert Nile bridge in Northern Uganda
Jim Joel · CC BY-SA 4.0
White Nile River (30741802592)
Rod Waddington · CC BY-SA 2.0
Zusammenfluss der Nile
Antisyntagmatarchos · Public domain

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

NileEgyptEgypt6,650 km2,800 m³/s

Tributaries (9)

Bahr el Ghazal RiverSouth SudanSouth Sudan716 km2.0 m³/sjoins at km 1,470Sobat RiverSouth SudanSouth Sudan306 km410 m³/sjoins at km 1,593

Also: Achwa, Kidepo River, Adar River, Bahr el Zeraf, Kafu, Ora River, Victoria Nile

In the same basin

Blue NileSudanSudan1,783 km1,500 m³/sKagera RiverUgandaUganda400 km350 m³/sAtbarah RiverSudanSudan1,120 km370 m³/sTekezé RiverSudanSudan608 km140 m³/sMara RiverTanzaniaTanzania395 km18 m³/sValley of the QueensEgyptEgypt4,302 km2,600 m³/sBaro RiverEthiopiaEthiopia306 km240 m³/sSemliki RiverUgandaUganda230 km240 m³/sRurubu RiverTanzaniaTanzania300 km100 m³/sMareb RiverSudanSudan440 km80 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Blue NileSudanSudan1,783 km1,500 m³/s3 km awayAtbarah RiverSudanSudan1,120 km370 m³/s278 km awayTekezé RiverSudanSudan608 km140 m³/s387 km awayMareb RiverSudanSudan440 km80 m³/s409 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q4814791) · 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 atlasesCascadyas, Lakeyas, 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