The longest river in Africa and, by most reckonings, the longest in the world — the lifeline that built ancient Egypt.
Length
6,650 km
Source
Lake Victoria / Blue Nile highlands of Ethiopia
Mouth
Mediterranean Sea (Egypt)
Continent
Africa
Countries
Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia & more
Did you know?
For thousands of years nobody knew where the Nile's water came from; the search for its source was one of the great quests of exploration.
Little-known fact
Most of the Nile's flow and almost all of its fertile silt come not from the famous White Nile but from the Blue Nile, which only joins at Khartoum.
Highlights
- Longest river in Africa
- Birthplace of ancient Egyptian civilisation
- Fed mainly by the Blue Nile from Ethiopia
Life in the Nile
The fish and animals, waterbirds and water plants — including some of the rarest — that this water supports.
Animals & fish
Hippopotamus
Africa’s river giant spends its days submerged and is, pound for pound, among the continent’s most dangerous animals.
Nile crocodile
Africa’s largest crocodile and a patient ambush hunter little changed since the age of dinosaurs.
Nile perch
One of the largest freshwater fish, growing to 2 m; introduced to Lake Victoria with devastating results.
Waterbirds
Grey heron
A patient, statue-still angler that stalks the shallows of rivers and lakes across the Old World.
Great white pelican
A huge waterbird that fishes in co-ordinated flotillas, herding fish into its enormous pouch.
African fish eagle
The ringing call of this black-white-and-chestnut raptor is the iconic “voice of Africa” by the water.
Greater flamingo
A tall, rose-tinted wader that filters tiny shrimp and algae from shallow salt and soda lakes.
Water plants & reeds
Papyrus
The towering reed of the Nile that the ancient Egyptians turned into the world’s first paper.
Water hyacinth
A beautiful but notorious free-floating weed that can choke entire waterways in a matter of weeks.
Interactive · 3D journey
Journey of a river · source → sea
Every river runs the same great journey — from an icy mountain spring, down through gorges and looping meanders, to a wide delta where it meets the sea. Tap a stage to follow the water downstream.
Tip: hover to tilt the valley · tap a stage to float downstream
The Source
Every river begins high up — in a mountain spring, a melting glacier or a boggy upland. The water is cold, clear and fast, tumbling down the steepest ground of its whole journey.
Landforms here