The Rutshuru River is a river in the eastern

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

that drains

Lake Mutanda Lake Mutanda is a small freshwater lake in Uganda. Location The lake is located in Kisoro District in southwestern Uganda, approximately north of the town of Kisoro, where the district headquarters are located. This location is approximately , ...

in the foothills of the Virunga Mountains in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

, flowing northward into Lake Rutanzige (formerly Lake Edward). For most of its length it runs through the

Rutshuru Territory Rutshuru Territory is a territory in the North Kivu province of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with headquarters is the town of Rutshuru. The territory is mountainous, including a large portion of the Virunga National Park, fa ...

North Kivu North Kivu (french: link=no, Nord-Kivu) is a province bordering Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Goma. North Kivu borders the provinces of Ituri to the north, Tshopo to the northwest, Maniema to the so ...

province.

Course

The Rutshuru is considered the highest source of the Nile.

Lake Bunyonyi Lake Bunyonyi ("Place of many little birds") is in south-western Uganda between Kisoro and Kabale, and it is close to the border with Rwanda. The lake appeared from 2004 to 2009 on the USh note under the title "Lake Bunyonyi and terraces" ...

, with a surface elevation of , is fed by the Kabirita River from Rwanda and from many affluents from the surrounding hills, which rise to elevations of . Lake Bunyoni drains into the Ruhuhuma Swamp at its northern end. The eastern part of this swamp drains into the upper course of the

Ishasha River The Ishasha is a river in southwest Uganda, forming part of the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It runs from its source north of Kabale to its mouth at Lake Edward. Its length is very roughly ignoring the many small meanders. ...

, while the western part drains to Lake Mutanda at a surface elevation of . Lake Mutanda discharges from its south-west corner through the Kako River and the Tshengere Swamp into the Rutshuru. At one time, what is now

Lake Kivu Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Lake Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River, which ...

was in the watershed of the Rutshuru River. Volcanic eruptions at the end of the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...

. In its lower reaches, the river flows through the central section of the

Virunga National Park , iucn_category = II , iucn_ref = , location = Democratic Republic of the Congo , map = Democratic Republic of the Congo , relief = 1 , coordinates = , area = , established = , nearest_city = Goma , photo =Virunga National Park-107997 ...

. The Rutshuru, Rwindi and Ishasha rivers form swamps and grasslands to the south of Lake Rutanzige. The river is home to herds of hippopotami. As of 2007, there were about 115 hippopotami per kilometer of the savannah and grass steppe along the Rutshuru River. There has been discussion about damming the river, which would have a serious impact on the downstream riverine wetlands.

References

Sources

* * * * * * Rivers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Lake Edward Virunga Mountains Rivers of Uganda International rivers of Africa {{Uganda-river-stub