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River

Akanyaru River

212 km from source to mouth · Rwanda and Burundi.

RwandaBurundiRwanda and BurundiFlows into Nyabarongo River2nd longest in Rwanda

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

212km

Average flow

110m³/s

Basin

13,973km²

Drop

297m

from 1,639 m to 1,342 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

212 km of river and 1 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,639 m1,342 m
Sourceat 1,639 m0 km
Kamuhanda / Ruyenzi16,369 people185 km
Nyabarongo Riverat 1,342 m212 km
050100150212 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 1,639 m
  2. 185 kmKamuhanda / Ruyenzi16,369 people
  3. 212 kmNyabarongo Riverat 1,342 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Burundi and Rwanda

At the mouth it carries 106 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 24 seconds. It drops from 1,639 m to 1,342 m, 1.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 13,973 km², about the size of BS. 7.1 million people live in it. Highest water: from April to May; lowest: from July to September. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • Kamuhanda / RuyenziLargest city on its banks · 16,369 people
  • Kigali International Airport (KGL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 17 km from the cityCar hire in KigaliDiscover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From June to AugustThe best months to visit

Akanyaru River, month by month

Highest water: from April to May

Lowest water: from July to September. Best months to visit: from June to August.

130
20°91 mmJan
130
20°105 mmFeb
140
20°124 mmMar
180
20°181 mmApr
180
20°132 mmMay
140
20°31 mmJun
83
20°12 mmJul
56
20°36 mmAug
79
20°90 mmSep
110
20°116 mmOct
140
20°129 mmNov
140
20°103 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 56 m³/s in the lowest month to 180 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Car hire in KigaliDiscover CarsSee 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Akanyaru River: the basin in numbers

13,973 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 7.1millionpeople live in the basin
  • 511/km²people per km²
  • 1,773maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,203mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 18.7°Caverage air temperature
  • 3%protected areas
  • 1.3%covered by lakes

What covers the basin

  • 12% Forest
  • 38% Cropland
  • 15% Pasture
  • 22% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Akanyaru River: what you find on the way

  • 2Dams
  • 2Ferry piers

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Akanyaru River in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 11mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Mountains at the source (11)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Gatandaganya14 km away2,468m
  2. Mount Huye12 km away2,278m
  3. Katandaganya15 km away2,216m
  4. Muliro7.2 km away2,167m
  5. Remera6.8 km away2,060m
  6. Rugarama6.4 km away
  7. Kagano14 km away
  8. Mukingo11 km away

3 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Akanyaru River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Akanyaru River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth16 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

Akanyaru River in pictures

Akanyaru river
Joliemahoro · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Nyabarongo RiverRwandaRwanda300 km110 m³/s

Tributaries (1)

Also: Kayave

In the same basin

NileEgyptEgypt6,650 km2,800 m³/sWhite NileSudanSudan2,620 km880 m³/sBlue NileSudanSudan1,783 km1,500 m³/sKagera RiverUgandaUganda400 km350 m³/sSobat RiverSouth SudanSouth Sudan306 km410 m³/sAtbarah RiverSudanSudan1,120 km370 m³/sBahr el Ghazal RiverSouth SudanSouth Sudan716 km2.0 m³/sTekezé RiverSudanSudan608 km140 m³/sMara RiverTanzaniaTanzania395 km18 m³/sValley of the QueensEgyptEgypt4,302 km2,600 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Rurubu RiverTanzaniaTanzania300 km100 m³/s85 km awayRuzizi RiverBurundiBurundi117 km400 m³/s174 km awayRuhwa RiverRwandaRwanda50 km6.0 m³/s139 km awayKagera RiverUgandaUganda400 km350 m³/s225 km awayMubarazi RiverBurundiBurundi67 km28 m³/s123 km awayMugere RiverBurundiBurundi293 km100 m³/s184 km awayKatonga RiverUgandaUganda177 km100 m³/s299 km awayMalagarasi RiverTanzaniaTanzania475 km340 m³/s361 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q10907525) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesPeakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit