Aruwimi River

Aruwimi River
Ituri River
Mto Ituri
Rivière Ituri
Aruwimi River; Ituri River; Mto Ituri; Rivière Ituri
	Location of mouth in the DR Congo
Location
Country	Democratic Republic of the Congo
Physical characteristics
Source	Blue Mountains
• location	Lake Albert
• elevation	1,182 m (3,878 ft)
Mouth	Congo River
• location	Basoko
• coordinates	1°13′24″N 23°35′39″E / 1.223209°N 23.594298°E
• elevation	359 m (1,178 ft)
Length	1,287 km (800 mi)
Basin size	116,100 km2 (44,800 sq mi)
Discharge
• location	Basoko, (near mouth)
• average	2,200 m3/s (78,000 cu ft/s)
Basin features
River system	Congo River
Tributaries
• left	Nepoko River

The Aruwimi River (Swahili: Mto Aruwimi, French: Rivière Aruwimi) is a tributary of the Congo River, located to the north and east of the Congo.^[2]^{: Vol.Two, 214}

The Aruwimi begins as the Ituri River, which rises near Lake Albert,^[3] 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, 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. The length of the Aruwimi–Ituri-Nizi is about 1,287 km (800 mi), with the Ituri being about 650 kilometres (400 mi), the Nizi about 257 kilometres (160 mi) and the Aruwimi about 380 kilometres (240 mi). The Aruwimi is about 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) 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 (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. The cataracts above Yambuya made it impossible to use the river for navigation, and the expedition had to go by land, with tremendous difficulty.

Tributaries:

Settlements: