The Chutes de la Kagera or better still falls of Karera are a beautiful series of waterfalls in southeastern Burundi. The spelling does not matter is about how you choose to pronounce it.!

Musongati / NationalTurk – The falls are in Rutana province in the municipality of Musongati which is only 3 km from the capital area of the Shanga zone and 12 km from the high road that is n° 8 connecting the urban centers of Gitega and Rutana.

From the national capital Bujumbura is about approximately 140 Km to the Rutana province which is a first class road leading you to the falls.

The falls occupy over 142 hectares of the land and made up of six branches divided on three landings which make it spectacular to watch.

There are four falls in the Kagera River, swelled by a branch from the Mwaro River coming in from the west which many believe is the source of the falls.

On a first level, is a main fall subdivided into two parallel branches of a length estimated at 80 m about which pours on a basin.

The latter parallel to the second fall in the Kagera forms a downstream with this one, the 4th which has the most powerful concentration of all the falls.

This fall consists of several waterfalls of different sizes intersected with two platforms. Another smaller waterfall is located roughly 50 m to the west of this main fall. Waters of these two falls converge on a second landing to form the third waterfall which pours on the valley.

The fifth completes its spectacular descent to give way to a river which first runs initially in small cascades and then slowly at the bottom of the valley, through a forest gallery, which leads to the Muyovozi river and the Malagarazi which is thrown finally into Lake Tanganyika after a long course until Kigoma in Tanzania.

One finds there large trees such as Neutonia buchananii surrounded by a savanna with Parinari curatellifolia and Pericopsis angolensis but also a lot of bird species all making it an awesome scene.

Burundi presents the falls of Karera to the tourists as one of the principal passages required for those who visit Burundi.

The falls were added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO World Heritage tentative list on May 9, 2007 in the mix cultural and natural category of the organisation.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa Tourism News

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