Tana River

The Tana River is the longest river in Kenya, it is also called Sagana River in the Mt Kenya region and gives its name to the Tana River County. It's ca. 1000 km long, its catchment covers ca. 100,000 km and can be divided into the headwaters and the lower Tana consisting of the section downstream of Kora where the river flows for ca. 700 km through semi-arid plains. Its tributaries include some major rivers in the Central Region like Thika, Ragati River, Nyamindi, Thiba, Mathioya, Chania, Thuci and Mutonga. The river rises from Mt Kenya in Nyeri. It initially runs southwest before turning south around the massif of Mount Kenya and meanders all the way up to the Indian Ocean.

Below the dams, the river turns north and flows along the north-south boundary between the Meru and North Kitui and Bisanadi, Kora and Rabole National Reserves. In the reserves the river turns east, and then south east. It passes through the towns of Garissa, Hola and Garsen before entering the Indian Ocean at the Ungwana Bay-Kipini area, at the end of a river delta that reaches roughly 30 km upstream from the river mouth itself. It runs through a semi-arid area and irrigates the surrounding land.