Lake Victoria is the main lake source of the White Nile, one of the Nile River’s two major tributaries.
The lake receives water from rainfall and numerous rivers, then drains northward through the Victoria Nile. That river flows through Lake Kyoga and Lake Albert before continuing as the White Nile toward Sudan. The Blue Nile, the other major tributary, rises from Lake Tana in Ethiopia.
Lake Victoria is shared by Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Its outlet is near Jinja in Uganda, where the Victoria Nile begins. The broader Nile system eventually reaches the Mediterranean Sea.
People sometimes say that Lake Victoria is the single source of the entire Nile. In reality, the Nile has two major headwater systems: the White Nile and the Blue Nile. Their confluence is at Khartoum, Sudan.