Geography of Africa outer ranges. The main drainage of the continent is to the north and west, or towards the basin of the Atlantic Ocean. To the main African rivers belong: Nile (the longest river of Africa), Congo (river with the highest water discharge on the continent) and the Niger, which flows half of its length through the arid areas. The largest lakes are the following: Lake Victoria (Lake Ukerewe), Lake Chad, in the centre of the continent, Lake Tanganyika, lying between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Tanzania and Zambia. There is also the considerably large Lake Malawi stretching along the eastern
Cataracts of the Nile Cataracts of the Nile The Cataracts of the Nile are shallow lengths (or white water rapids) of the Nile River, between Aswan and Khartoum, where the surface of the water is broken by many small boulders and stones jutting out of the river bed, as well as many rocky islets. In some places, these stretches are punctuated by whitewater, while at others the water flow is smoother, but still shallow. Counted going upstream (from north to south): The word cataract is a Greek word καταρρέω ("to flow down") although the original Greek term was Κατάδουποι(, οἱ - only masculine plural