The equator crosses the land of 11 countries: São Tomé and Príncipe, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Indonesia, Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil. It also passes through the waters of the Maldives and Kiribati without touching their land, which makes 13 if you count water. Seven of the 13 are in Africa.
All 13, from west to east
Starting at the prime meridian in the Gulf of Guinea and heading east:
| # | Country | Continent | Where the line crosses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | São Tomé and Príncipe | Africa | Ilhéu das Rolas, a small islet off São Tomé island |
| 2 | Gabon | Africa | From the coast south of Libreville, inland through rainforest |
| 3 | Republic of the Congo | Africa | The forested north |
| 4 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | Africa | The Congo River at Mbandaka |
| 5 | Uganda | Africa | Lake Victoria and the road south-west of Kampala |
| 6 | Kenya | Africa | The highlands at Nanyuki, below Mount Kenya |
| 7 | Somalia | Africa | The south, just north of Kismayo |
| 8 | Maldives | Asia (Indian Ocean) | Water only, between Huvadhu Atoll and Fuvahmulah |
| 9 | Indonesia | Asia | Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, Halmahera and smaller islands |
| 10 | Kiribati | Oceania | Water only, among the Gilbert Islands |
| 11 | Ecuador | South America | North of Quito, and Isabela in the Galápagos |
| 12 | Colombia | South America | The Amazon rainforest in the far south |
| 13 | Brazil | South America | The Amazon basin and its mouth at Macapá |
Africa takes seven, South America three, Asia two and Oceania one, the water-only crossing in Kiribati. No part of Europe, North America or Antarctica touches the line.
Where to stand on the line
Many crossings run through rainforest or open water, but a few are easy to reach and marked:
- Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador. A monument park north of Quito, in the country named for the line. The painted line is a couple of hundred meters from the true equator measured by GPS; the nearby Intiñan museum sits closer to it.
- Nanyuki, Kenya. A roadside sign on the main road around Mount Kenya, popular as a stop on the way to safari country.
- Kayabwe, Uganda. Markers on the Kampala–Masaka road, the usual photo stop between Kampala and the national parks of the south-west.
- Pontianak, Indonesia. The Equator Monument in this city on Borneo marks the line, and the city celebrates the days the sun passes straight overhead.
- Macapá, Brazil. The Marco Zero monument at the mouth of the Amazon, next to a football stadium whose halfway line follows the equator.
- Ilhéu das Rolas, São Tomé and Príncipe. A stone marker on a hill of this small islet, reached by boat from the southern tip of São Tomé.
Standing with a foot in each hemisphere is one of the lines on Globestamp's bucket list: be in both hemispheres. You don't need the equator for it, though; any trip that takes you north and south of the line will do.
The water trick, and other myths
At roadside equator markers in Kenya, Uganda and Ecuador, guides often drain a basin of water a few steps north and south of the line to show it swirling in opposite directions. It's a show. The Coriolis effect is real, but at the scale of a sink it's far too weak to decide which way water spins; the shape of the basin and how it's poured do that.
Other things are true. The sun rises and sets at almost the same times all year, giving close to 12 hours of daylight in every season. Near the equinoxes in March and September, the sun passes straight overhead at noon, and an upright pole casts almost no shadow.
Does crossing the equator count for anything?
For countries, only if you were on the ground. Flying over the line, or sailing across it, doesn't add a country, though sailors have long marked their first crossing with a line-crossing ceremony. To count Ecuador or Kenya, you need to have stood in it, equator or not. More on the rules in how to count the countries you've visited.
The line also makes a natural theme for a trip. Uganda and Kenya pair easily overland, and Ecuador and Colombia share a border. At the other end, São Tomé and Príncipe and Kiribati each received well under 50,000 international arrivals a year in UN Tourism's last figures before 2020, which puts them among the least visited countries anywhere.