Pangani River
| Pangani River | |
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Pangani Town on Pangani River
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| Country | Tanzania |
| Basin features | |
| Main source | Nyumba ya Mungu Reservoir |
| River mouth | Indian Ocean at the town of Pangani |
| Basin size | 43,650 km2 (16,850 sq mi) |
| Tributaries | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Discharge |
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The Pangani River (pin-gi'nee) (also called Luffu and Jipe Ruvu, especially in older sources, and probably once called Rhaptus) is a major river of northeastern Tanzania. It has two main sources: the Ruvu, which rises as Lumi at Kilimanjaro, passes through Lake Jipe, and empties into the Nyumba ya Mungu Reservoir, and the Kikuletwa, coming from the west and mainly fed by Mount Meru, which also enters into the Nyumba ya Mungu Reservoir. Just after leaving the reservoir the stream becomes the Pangani, which empties into the Indian Ocean at the town of Pangani.
For much of its length the river flows along the regional borders of Kilimanjaro Region and Manyara Region, before flowing into Tanga Region, which contains the 68 MW Pangani Power Station and the Pangani Falls Dam. There are several inhabited islands within the river. The river is full of crocodiles; hippopotami are scarcer in its lower parts.
A main source of Pangani originates on Kilimanjaro, where it is the River Lumi. Lake Jipe may be considered a backwater of the Lumi.
Below Lake Jipe and above the falls, the river is referred to as "Ruvu".
Formerly the main course towards the sea was alternatively called "Ruvu" and "Pangani". Nowadays that has been settled as "Pangani" from the Nyumba ya Mungu reservoir to the Ocean.
While the Sudheli language calls it "Pangani" (meaning distribute or arrange), it is called "Luffu" by the Wasambara (indigenous to the Nderema area, on the three ridges nearer the coast) and Wasegua (who live on the river's islands).
Almost all authorities agree that the river "Rhaptus" of Ptolemy's topographical maps is the Pangani of modern maps.
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Wikipedia