In Darkest Africa ascending Aruwimi River

The Aruwimi River is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

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 pr ...

, 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. As of 2009 it had an estimated population of 47,970. Notable people *George Grenfell George Grenfell (21 August 1849, in Sancreed, Corn ...

. 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'Apar ...

(

SIL code ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...

KZY) is spoken by several thousand villagers just south of Avakubi, and upper reaches of the Ituri are inhabited by the

Mbuti The Mbuti people, or Bambuti, are one of several indigenous pygmy groups in the Congo region of Africa. Their languages are Central Sudanic languages and Bantu languages. Subgroups Bambuti are pygmy hunter-gatherers, and are one of the old ...

(

Pygmies In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a pop ...

). The Aruwimi was explored by Henry Morton Stanley during his 1887 expedition to "rescue" Emin Pasha. 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 ...

s above Yambuya 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 dialect ...

* Lenda River Settlements: * Bomaneh * Mongandjo * Yambuya * 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 Alb ...

References

External links

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