The Nile River is a significant river in northeastern Africa that flows north. It eventually empties into the Mediterranean Sea. It is the longest river in Africa and has historically been regarded as the longest river in the world, while research suggests that the Amazon River is somewhat longer.

In terms of cubic meters flowing yearly, the Nile is one of the smallest of the world’s great rivers. Its drainage basin spans eleven countries, including Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, the Republic of Sudan, and Egypt.

The Nile, in particular, serves as Egypt’s, Sudan’s, and South Sudan’s principal water source. Furthermore, the Nile is a significant economic river, supporting agriculture and fisheries.

Here are the top 7 interesting facts about the Nile River.

The Longest River On Earth

Nile River Map

The Nile runs north for nearly 6,650 kilometers from the African Great Lakes to the Mediterranean Sea, where it empties into the sea.

It runs through 11 nations, including Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt, and drains 3.3 million square kilometres, or almost 10% of the African continent.

The Nile is still widely regarded as the world’s longest river, according to sources ranging from the United Nations to the Guinness Book of World Records, while the Amazon also owns several titles, including the world’s biggest river by volume, as it contains around 20% of the world’s freshwater.

More Than One Nile

A view of Tis Abay, or Blue Nile Falls, in Ethiopia

The Lower Nile used to flood in the summer, which perplexed early Egyptians because it nearly never rained where they lived. However, we now know that, despite being Egypt’s only river, the Nile is supplied by considerably rainier areas to the south, and its hydrology is influenced by at least two “hydraulic regimes” upstream.

The Nile is fed by three major tributaries: the White Nile, the Blue Nile, and the Atbara. The longest is the White Nile, which begins with tributaries that feed into Lake Victoria, the world’s biggest tropical lake. The Victoria Nile emerges, then flows through marshy Lake Kyoga and Murchison (Kabalega) Falls before reaching Lake Albert (Mwitanzige).

The White Nile runs continuously throughout the year, but the Blue Nile does most of its work during a few wild months each summer.

The water in the adjacent Atbara flows from Ethiopia’s mountains. Although the White Nile is longer and more stable, the Blue Nile delivers almost 60% of the water that enters Egypt each year, largely during the summer. Later, the Atbara comes in, accounting about 10% of the Nile’s total flow.

These rains inundated the Nile in Egypt every year, and since they eroded basalt lavas on their way out of Ethiopia, their water turned out to be very useful downstream.

Read More: Top 10 beaches in the world

The Mysterious Source

Source of The Nile

The Nile was venerated as a source of life by the ancient Egyptians, yet it was always veiled in mystery. It would be for centuries, too, as expeditions failed repeatedly to identify its source, with Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans being thwarted by an area known as the Sudd which is now South Sudan), where the Nile creates a large swamp.

This contributed to the river’s mystery, which is why traditional Greek and Roman art depicted it as a god with a mysterious face.

The Blue Nile was the first to reveal its secrets, and an ancient Egyptian expedition may have even tracked it back to Ethiopia. Despite several attempts, the source of the White Nile remained mysterious. However, the quest was far from over.

The White Nile begins even before Lake Victoria, however, not everyone agrees on the exact location. The Nyabarongo is also nourished by the Mbirurume and Mwogo rivers, which originate in Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest and are said to be the Nile’s furthest source.

Read More: Top 10 longest rivers in the world

Great Bend Detour

The Nile’s ‘Great Bend’ in Sudan

After steadfastly forging north for most of its journey, the Nile takes an unexpected detour in the Sahara. With its main tributaries eventually joined, it flows north across Sudan for a bit before abruptly turning southwest and meandering away from the sea.

It continues as a way for nearly 300 kilometers (186 miles), as though it were returning to Central Africa rather than Egypt. This structure, known as the “Great Bend,” is one of several formed by the Nubian Swell, a massive subsurface rock formation.

It was produced by tectonic upheaval over millions of years, which drove this spectacular bend and built the cataracts of the Nile.

Haven For Wildlife

A hippopotamus yawns in the Nile River

Humans are only one of many species that rely on the Nile, which runs through a variety of habitats as it passes across Africa. Closer to the White Nile’s headwaters, the river meanders through biodiverse tropical rainforests rich with vegetation such as banana trees, bamboo, coffee bushes, and ebony, to mention a few.

Further north, it approaches mixed woodland and savanna, with fewer trees and more grasses and shrubs. During the rainy season, it transforms into a huge marsh across the Sudanese lowlands, particularly the famed Sudd in South Sudan, which encompasses almost 260,000 square kilometers.

The vegetation continues to decrease as the river flows north, eventually disappearing completely when the river enters the desert.

Papyrus, an aquatic blooming sedge that grows as tall reeds in shallow water, is one of the most well-known Nile plants. These are the plants that the ancient Egyptians notably employed to create paper, fabric, ropes, mats, sails, and other products.

The Nile also supports a number of huge animal species, including hippopotamuses, which were previously prevalent along most of the river but now primarily occupy the Sudd and adjacent marshy parts of South Sudan.

There are also soft-shelled turtles, cobras, black mambas, water snakes, and three kinds of monitor lizards that may grow to be 1.8 meters (6 feet) long. The Nile crocodile, on the other hand, is perhaps the river’s most famous wildlife.

Read More: Top 10 smallest rivers in the world

The Nile Is Changing

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam,

For millennia, people have made their imprint along the Nile, but the dynamic has shifted recently. The building of the Aswan High Dam in 1970, which impounds the Nile River in southern Egypt to form Lake Nasser, was a significant move.

This gave humanity power over the Nile’s life-giving floods for the first time in history. It currently supports Egypt’s economy since water can now be released where and when it is most required, and because the dam’s 12 turbines can generate 2.1 gigatonnes of power.

According to Britannica, the dam has also resulted in a gradual decline in the fertility and productivity of riverside farmland, noting that “Egypt’s annual application of about 1 million tonnes of artificial fertilisers is an inadequate substitute for the 40 million tonnes of silt formerly deposited annually by the Nile flood.”

Fish populations have apparently dropped offshore from the delta due to the absence of nutrients originally given by Nile silt.

Largest City Of The Region

Alexandria City in Egypt

Alexandria, with a population of nearly four million people, is the largest city in this region. The city of Rosetta is also located in the delta region; it was here that the renowned Rosetta Stone was discovered, with its inscriptions assisting modern people in understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Despite having followed its journey for millions of years, and despite everything it has experienced from our species over the previous several millennia, it now confronts tremendous pressure from human activity everywhere along its path.

It’s just one river system, but as one of the most well-known and significant streams on the planet, it’s come to represent something greater than itself: interconnection.

Humans rely on various rivers all around the world, but if we consistently let them down when they’re in danger — even enormous, renowned rivers like the Nile — we might certainly anticipate the same from them.