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© Kim HotsonThis time we are going on a sailing boat called a felucca down the river Nile. At 6,700 kilometres from source to mouth the Nile is the world's longest river - longer than the journey from London to New York!

The Nile has a gigantic river basin, gathering water from many African countries. From the map below, can you work out how many? Click here to see if you are right!

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© NASA images NASA has taken some amazing pictures of the Nile from satellites in space, like this one. Can you see the river? And what do you think the blue, green and yellowy brown areas are?

Download and print the NASA picture alongside the map of the Nile - add your own labels to match up features of the two of them together.

Click to enlarge © Tim Scoones

The Nile actually starts as three rivers - the Blue Nile and the White Nile and later joined by the Atbara river. In the picture you can see where the Blue and White Nile join together near Khartoum, Sudan's capital city.

Is the White Nile actually white?

No, but it is murkier than the Blue Nile because it carries a different kind of silt brought from an area made of different rocks.

This silt is not just a load of dirt! For thousands of years the supply of silt and fresh water from the Nile has been a lifeline for people. Go to the next page to find out why.