River
Athi-Galana-Sabaki River
390 km from source to mouth · Kenya.
KenyaFlows into Indian Ocean2nd longest in Kenya
In numbers
Length
390km
Average flow
90m³/s
Basin
70,000km²
Drop
1,589m
from 1,589 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
390 km of river and 4 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,589 m
- 13 kmAthi River81,302 people
- 39 kmNairobi Rivertributary
- 241 kmTsavo Rivertributary
- 250 kmLugards Falls
- 390 kmIndian Oceanat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Kenya
At the mouth it carries 90 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 28 seconds. It drops from 1,589 m to 0 m, 4.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 70,000 km², about the size of IE. 7.4 million people live in it. Highest water: December; lowest: from July to October. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- Athi RiverLargest city on its banks · 81,302 people
- Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 16 km from the cityCar hire at NBO airport (Nairobi)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- January and from June to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Athi-Galana-Sabaki River, month by month
Highest water: December
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: January and from June to September.
From about 18 m³/s in the lowest month to 190 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
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
Athi-Galana-Sabaki River: the basin in numbers
38,448 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 7.4millionpeople live in the basin
- 192/km²people per km²
- 1,077maverage altitude of the basin
- 752mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 21.7°Caverage air temperature
- 30%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 15% Forest
- 9% Cropland
- 27% Pasture
- 6% 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
Athi-Galana-Sabaki River: what you find on the way
- 2Weirs
- 1Boat ramps
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Athi-Galana-Sabaki 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.
1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
4mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Lugards Fallskm 396
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Mountains at the source (4)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- White Grass Ridge4.9 km away
- Somali Ridge1.4 km away
- Songora Ridge2.3 km away
- Middle Ridge6.0 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
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
Athi-Galana-Sabaki River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (3)
Also: Nairobi River, Tsavo River, Kiboko
Tanzania
SomaliaWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1508817) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Cascadyas, Peakyas — 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.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit