The Ruki () is a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a left tributary of the
Congo River
The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...
. It may be seen as the lower reach of the
Busira River, which in turn may be seen as the lower reach of the
Tshuapa River.
Location
The Ruki is a major river in the
Cuvette Centrale of the middle Congo River basin.
The watershed covers about .
The
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
is almost entirely pristine lowland forest and swamp forest.
As of 2020, 248 species of fish had been identified in 26 families.
The main rivers are the Ruki-Busira, Momboyo-Luilaka,
Tshuapa,
Lomela and
Salonga.
The most important town in the river basin is
Boende on the Tshuapa, upstream from where it joins the Lomela to form the Busira.
The Ruki River forms above
Ingende where the
Momboyo River joins the
Busira River from the left and flows in a west-northwest direction.
It enters the Congo from the east, flowing past the north of the town of
Mbandaka.
The Ruki and its main tributary the Busira can be navigated year round, since the depth is always more than and reaches in the flood period.
High water is in March-April and November.
Low water is in February and June-July.
The Ruki itself is just long, and extends downstream from the mouth of the Momboyo, which is above Ingende.
Higher up it is called the Busira as far as the confluence of the Tshuapa and the Lomela.
The Busira section is long, and the whole Ruki-Busira waterway is long.
The Ruki-Busira receives four navigable tributaries: the Momboyo at from its mouth, the Salonga at , just upstream from
Lotoko, and the Tshuapa and Lomela which converge to form the river.
Colonial period
The explorer
Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author, and politician famous for his exploration of Central Africa and search for missi ...
visited the region, and called the Ruki the Mohindu River.
A local man from Bungata named the river Buruki (Ruki) or Mohindu, meaning "Black".
Stanley explored it for about , and based on its size and reports of the local people he estimated that it might be navigable for about .
The African Queen
The Ruki River was used as a location for the movie ''
The African Queen'' starring
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...
and
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress whose Katharine Hepburn on screen and stage, career as a Golden Age of Hollywood, Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong ...
.
A 1951 article in Life magazine describes how the influx of filmmakers broke the "sweltering monotony of life along the dank, disease-ridden shores" of the river.
Forest was cleared to create a "cluster of tasteful native huts".
Filming took seven weeks.
Notes
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:
Rivers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Province of Équateur