Close your mind’s eye, kick back your shoes, pull the couch pillow into a more comfortable position as you recline your back. Loosen your shoulders, relax your neck and open your senses, let them come alive to the scent, the beauty and the magnificence of this tour of the world’s top 10 longest rivers.
To acquaint yourself with the locations of these rivers, you may consult the map above. It promises to be a refreshing cruise. Ahoy! Captain.
1. Nile River
It is 6,695km long and courses through a dozen countries from the Great Lakes region of East Africa to the Mediterranean, making it the world’s longest river. It is said that not much has changed in the landscape along its bank since the time of the Pharaohs, when Cleopatra walked her sandy shores.
2. The Amazon River
It rises high up in the Peruvian Andes, the Amazon is the largest river in the world by volume, and holds one fifth of the world’s fresh water supply,but the second in length, covering a total distance of 6,516 km.
The Amazon and its tributaries flow through Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean, with over 3,000 recognised species of fish and new species still being discovered in its waters and surrounding ecosystem.
3. Yangtze River
An old Chinese saying goes: “If you haven’t been up the Yangtze, then you haven’t been anywhere.” That much can be said of Asia’s longest river at 6,418 km. It rises from the glaciers of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and flows eastwards across the width of China before emptying into the East China Sea, north of Shanghai.
Along its course is the world’s largest hydroelectric power station, the Three Gorges Dam, as well as the breath-taking Purple Mountain in Nanjing province (seen above).
4. The Mississippi/Missouri Rivers
This is conveniently North America’s longest river with a combined length of 6,275 km and touch an impressive number of states in the US; with a distant tributary in Montana – The Missouri – it rises in northern Minnesota, then flows through Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi state and Louisiana before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean’s Gulf of Mexico.
It showcases some of the most dramatic scenery in the US.
5. The Yenisei River
The Yenisei flows north from Mongolia to the Yenisei Gulf of the Kara Sea in the Arctic Ocean. Most of its 5,539 km course is through the white landscapes of Siberia.
Tell me the sheer beauty of these rivers do not steal the breath from your lungs! And we are by no means done with the tour. Retire now to your stateroom, as we finish off the second phase of this tour in the next article.
See Also: Take a Tour on 10 of the World’s Longest Rivers (2)