Rufiji River


The Rufiji River lies entirely within Tanzania. The river is formed by the confluence of the Kilombero and Luwegu rivers. It is approximately long, with its source in southwestern Tanzania and its mouth on the Indian Ocean at a point between Mafia Island called Mafia Channel. Its principal tributary is the Great Ruaha River. It is navigable for about.
The Rufiji is about south of Dar es Salaam. The river's delta contains the largest mangrove forest in eastern Africa.

History

A branch of ancient sea routes led down the East African coast called "Azania" by the Greeks and Romans in the 1st century CE as described in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, at least as far as the port known to the Romans as Rhapta, which was probably located in the delta of the Rufiji River in modern Tanzania.
During the First World War, from October 1914 to July 1915, the river delta was the scene of a protracted naval operation. These were the attempts, and later achievement, by the Royal Navy to neutralize and destroy the German cruiser Konigsberg.

Basin

The catchment basin for the Rufiji River complex is.
RiverArea
km2		Percentage
of area		Percentage
of run-off
Great Ruaha 83,9704715
Kilombero39,9902362
Luwegu26,3001518
Rufiji 27,160155
Total 177,429100100

Hydroelectric Project

Tanzania president John Magufuli has approved of constructing a new
Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station of 2,115MW over the river in the area. This new step will result in an additional 2,100 megawatts of electricity, which means more than triple Tanzania's installed hydropower capacity of 562 megawatts. The project had started on July 26, 2019, and will be ready by 2022.