In Darkest Africa ascending Aruwimi River

The Aruwimi River is a tributary of the

Congo River The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...

, located to the north and east of the Congo.Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, Vol. One , Vol. Two The Aruwimi begins as the

Ituri River The Ituri River is a river of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the main tributary of the Aruwimi River, which forms where the Ituri meets the Nepoko River. It gives its name to Ituri Province. Course The Ituri has its headwaters in p ...

, which rises near Lake Albert, in the savannas north of the Kibale River watershed. It then runs generally south southwest until it is joined by the Shari River which flows by Bunia. The Ituri then turns west, through the

Ituri Forest The Ituri Rainforest is a rainforest located in the Ituri Province of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The forest's name derives from the nearby Ituri River which flows through the rainforest, connecting firstly to the Aruwimi Rive ...

, becoming the Aruwimi where the Nepoko (or Nepoki) River joins it, at the town of Bomili. The river continues westward, joining the Congo at

Basoko Basoko is a town on the Congo River in the Tshopo Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, ...

. The length of the Aruwimi–Ituri-Nizi is about , with the Ituri being about , the Nizi about and the Aruwimi about . The Aruwimi is about wide where it joins the Congo. The watershed of the Ituri/Aruwimi is almost entirely dense forest, with just a handful of villages along its course, and crossed by roads in about four places. The

Kango language Bila, or Forest Bira, is a Bantu language spoken in the Mambasa Territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is also spoken by the Mbuti Pygmies who live in that area. Pygmy groups to the west include the Kango and Sua (Batchua).''L'Apare ...

( SIL code KZY) is spoken by several thousand villagers just south of Avakubi, and upper reaches of the Ituri are inhabited by the Mbuti ( Pygmies). The Aruwimi was explored by Henry Morton Stanley during his 1887 expedition to "rescue"

Emin Pasha 185px, Schnitzer in 1875 Mehmed Emin Pasha (born Isaak Eduard Schnitzer, baptized Eduard Carl Oscar Theodor Schnitzer; March 28, 1840 – October 23, 1892) was an Ottoman physician of German Jewish origin, naturalist, and governor of the Egypt ...

. The

cataract A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colors, blurry or double vision, halos around light, trouble wi ...

s above

Yambuya Yambuya is a community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the Aruwimi River, roughly due north of Yangambi. The river is navigable as far as Yambuya, but is blocked by cataracts further upstream. Yambuya was made a base for the Emin Pas ...

made it impossible to use the river for navigation, and the expedition had to go by land, with tremendous difficulty. Tributaries: *

Nepoko River The Nepoko River is a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It joins the Ituri River at the town of Bomili to form the Aruwimi River. The river separates different groups of the Budu people of Wamba Territory, who speak different dialec ...

Lenda River Lenda may refer to: * Lenda, Kenya, a settlement in Coast Province, Kenya * Ellend, known in Croatian as Lenda, a village in Hungary * Lenda Murray (born 1962), US bodybuilder * Lenda Tracy Hanks (1879-1944), US phycologist * Lenda Vumbi (born ...

Settlements: * Bomaneh * Mongandjo *

* Banalia * Panga * Bafwangbe * Bomili * Avakubi * Teturi *

Bunia Bunia is the capital city of Ituri Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was part of the Orientale Province until that province's dissolution. It lies at an elevation of on a plateau about west of Lake Albert in the Albe ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Rivers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Tributaries of the Congo River