Kouilou-Niari River
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Do not confuse the Kouilou River in the Republic of Congo with the Kwilu River in the Democratic Republic of Congo, shown here. |
The
Kouilou-Niari River—also spelled
Kwilu,
Kwila, or
Kwil—is the main drainage path for the coastal basin of the
Republic of the Congo. The river is called the Kouilou River along most of its length, but its center section, in the
Niari region of The Congo, is called the Niari River. The river eventually combines with the
Louessé River and eventually flows into the
Atlantic Ocean. It covers about 450 miles from its origin in the plateaus of The Congo to its mouth at the coast.
The river has numerous waterfalls and is impassable from its mouth, which is blocked by multiple
sandbars, formed primarily by the action of the
Benguela current.
Zrinski chutes: Honors
Nikola Zrinski and
Petar Zrinski,
Croatian nobles; discovered and named in
1882 by a Croatian member (
Dragutin Lerman) of
Henry Morton Stanley's exploration team.
