Series of waterfalls on the Congo River in Orientale Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Boyoma Falls Maporomoko ya Maji ya Boyoma
Boyoma Falls.
Location
Lualaba River, Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Type
Cataract
Total height
200 feet (61 m)
Average width
4,500 feet (1,400 m)
Watercourse
Congo River
Average flow rate
16,990 m3/s (600,000 cu ft/s)[1]
Boyoma Falls (Swahili: Maporomoko ya Maji ya Boyoma, French: chutes de Boyoma),[2] formerly known as Stanley Falls, is a series of seven cataracts, each no more than 5 m (16 ft) high, extending over more than 100 km (62 mi) along a curve of the Lualaba River between the river port towns of Ubundu and Kisangani (also known as Boyoma) in the Orientale Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[3]: Vol.Two, 175 The seven cataracts have a total drop of 61 m (200 ft). They form the largest waterfall by volume of annual flow rate in the world, exceeding both the Niagara Falls and the Iguazu Falls.[citation needed]
The two major cataracts are the first below Ubundu, forming a narrow and crooked stream that is hardly accessible, and the last that can be seen and visited from Kisangani. At the bottom of the rapids, the Lualaba is known as the Congo River. A 1m-gauge portage railway bypasses the series of rapids, connecting Kisangani and Ubundu.[citation needed]
The last of the seven cataracts of the Boyoma Falls is also known as the Wagenia Falls (French: chutes Wagenia),[2] referring to the local Wagenya fishermen, who have developed a special technique to fish in the river. They build systems of wooden tripods across the rapids fixed in holes carved in the rock by the water current. These serve as anchors for baskets that entrap large fish. The baskets are lowered in the rapids to “sieve” the waters for fish. It is a very selective fishing method, as these baskets are quite big, and only large fish are entrapped.
The falls were formerly named after Henry Morton Stanley, who explored the region and noted the fishing technique of the Wagenya. According to Stanley, "...by taking advantage of the rocks, the natives have been enabled to fix upright heavy poles, 6 inches in diameter, to each of which they attach enormous fish-baskets by means of rattan-cane cable. There are probably sixty or seventy baskets laid in the river on each side, every day; and though some may be brought up empty, in general they seem to be tolerably successful, for out of half-a-dozen baskets...twenty-eight large fish were collected..."[3]: 197
^"Wagenia, Chutes, Congo, Democratic Republic of the - World Waterfall Database". www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
^ abNdeo, Oscar; Hauffe, Torsten; Delicado, Diana; Busanga, Alidor; Albrecht, Christian (2017-05-02). "Mollusk communities of the central Congo River shaped by combined effects of barriers, environmental gradients, and species dispersal". Journal of Limnology. 76. doi:10.4081/jlimnol.2017.1585.
^ abStanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, Vol. One ISBN 0486256677, Vol. Two ISBN 0486256685
BoyomaFalls (Swahili: Maporomoko ya Maji ya Boyoma, French: chutes de Boyoma), formerly known as Stanley Falls, is a series of seven cataracts, each...
Lualaba River, and Lualaba is the name of the Congo River upstream of BoyomaFalls, extending for 1,800 km (1,100 mi). Measured along with the Lualaba,...
was known first as Falls Station (or "the Post Stanley Falls" or "The Falls" or simply "Boyoma" the African name of BoyomaFalls) and then, with Belgian...
The only wider falls are extremely large rapid-like falls, such as the BoyomaFalls (Stanley Falls). With the flooding of the Guaíra Falls in 1982, Iguazu...
Kindu up to the BoyomaFalls at Ubundu, the stream is navigable again for more than 300 kilometres. The BoyomaFalls or Stanley Falls are made up of seven...
by height List of waterfalls by type Orders of magnitude (power) "Inga Falls, Congo, Democratic Republic of the – World Waterfall Database". www.worldwaterfalldatabase...
Stanley Falls may refer to : Stanley Falls, Congo, former name for the BoyomaFalls, seven Congolese cataracts on the Lualaba River Stanley Falls District...
Kalandula Falls – 105 m (344 ft) high Kagera Falls Rusumo Falls Boali Falls Gauthiot FallsBoyomaFalls – formerly known as Stanley Falls; highest flow...
same name. It is on the Lualaba River, or Upper Congo, just above the BoyomaFalls. As the river is not navigable from here downstream to Kisangani, a portage...
Falls (modern-day BoyomaFalls) and a smaller, nearby Congo Free State fort led by Walter Deane and Lieutenant Dubois. Tip's men at the Stanley Falls...
to keep his word, and in August Jameson visited him at Stanley Falls (today BoyomaFalls) on the Upper Congo without result. No news from Stanley reached...
Morton Stanley, Tippu Tip became a governor of the "Stanley Falls District" (BoyomaFalls) in Leopold's Congo Free State, before being involved in the...
the lower reaches of the BoyomaFalls. As a result, the seventh and last cataract on the Boyoma is named the Wagenia Falls. Because of low rock banks...
and Nyangwe. Later on they went northward and they reached Kirundu and BoyomaFalls around 1882–1883. These traders were in search of ivory and slaves, as...
Before 2012 the falls of Teotônio and of San Antônio existed here, they had higher flow rate and bigger level drop than more famous BoyomaFalls in Africa....
opposite the town of Ankoro. The Lualaba becomes the Congo River below the BoyomaFalls. Lake Mweru, at an elevation of about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), is a floodplain...
Lake Mweru. The river flows generally west from Kisangani just below BoyomaFalls, then gradually bends southwest, passing by Mbandaka, joining with the...
city) through Luvua River to Ankoro (requiring dams and a Boat lift in BoyomaFalls, like the Three Gorges dam ship lift), or the waterway into the Lake...
and established a station that became the city of Kisangani below the BoyomaFalls, a 56 miles (90 km) series of cataracts. The river was navigable from...
George Albert Boulenger in 1899, based upon a holotype discovered at the BoyomaFalls, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The body of the fish is brown...
the main right bank tributaries of the Congo River downstream from the BoyomaFalls in the Cuvette Centrale (Central Basin). This is a flat area of lowland...
the Ituri, Itimbri and Kasai Rivers as well as the Kinsuka Rapids and BoyomaFalls. This species grows to a length of 9.5 centimetres (3.7 in) SL. The catfish...
Name Former name in French Former name in Dutch Former Namesake BoyomaFalls Stanley Falls Stanleywatervallen Named in honour of Henry Morton Stanley, explorer...
to catch the fish thrown downstream by rapids at the BoyomaFalls (aka: Stanley or Kisangani falls) on the Lualaba River, near Kisangani in the Democratic...
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