Niger River Niger River The Niger River (; , ) is the principal river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea. It runs in a crescent through Mali, Niger, on the border with Benin and then through Nigeria, discharging through a massive delta, known as the Niger Delta or the Oil Rivers, into the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. The Niger is the third-longest river in Africa, exceeded only by the Nile and the Congo River (also known as the Zaïre River). Its main tributary
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