River

Bani River

430 km from source to mouth · Mali.

MaliFlows into Niger River2nd longest in Mali

Follow the river Month by month

SourceMouth

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

In numbers

Length

430km

Average flow

510m³/s

Basin

101,000km²

Drop

20m

from 281 m to 261 m

Country

The journey

From source to mouth

430 km of river and 4 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

311 m261 m

Sourceat 281 m0 km

Great Mosque of Djenné311 km

Niger Riverat 261 m430 km

0100200300430 km

0 kmSourceat 281 m
3 kmBagoé Rivertributary
26 kmBanifing Rivertributary
311 kmGreat Mosque of Djenné
416 kmMopti186,187 people
430 kmNiger Riverat 261 m

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

River in Mali

At the mouth it carries 513 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 4.9 seconds. It drops from 281 m to 261 m, 0.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 101,000 km², about the size of CS. 12.1 million people live in it. Highest water: September; lowest: from January to April. Its dams hold back little of its water (8.8% of a year's flow).

Where to start

MoptiLargest city on its banks · 186,187 people
Mopti Airport (MZI)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 12 km from the city
On the water18 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
From December to FebruaryThe best months to visit

Bani River, month by month

Highest water: September

Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from December to February.

110

23°0 mmJan

26°0 mmFeb

29°3 mmMar

31°10 mmApr

140

32°40 mmMay

410

30°92 mmJun

1,100

28°168 mmJul

2,200

27°221 mmAug

2,500

27°122 mmSep

2,100

28°32 mmOct

1,300

26°2 mmNov

460

24°1 mmDec

Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 81 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,500 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

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The basin

Bani River: the basin in numbers

275,312 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Lightly regulatedReservoirs can hold 8.8% of a year's flow.

12.1millionpeople live in the basin
45/km²people per km²
397maverage altitude of the basin
1,185mmof rain a year (basin average)
26.5°Caverage air temperature
5%protected areas
0.2%covered by lakes
2.4km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

19% Forest
9% Cropland
37% Pasture
1% 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

Bani River: what you find on the way

2DamsBarrage de Talo, Djenné Dam
4Weirs
17Ferry piersMopti and 16 more
1MarinasPort de Mopti

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Bani River: satellite view of the source — **The source**14 km across

Bani River: satellite view of the mouth — **The mouth**72 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

Bani River in pictures

ASC Leiden - W.E.A. van Beek Collection - Thuis in Afrika - 02.3 - Traveling can be very idyllic - River Bani near Mopti, Mali - 2001 — Wouter van Beek · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Niger River

Nigeria4,180 km8,600 m³/s

Tributaries (2)

Also: Bagoé River, Banifing River

In the same basin

Benue River

Nigeria1,370 km3,200 m³/s Sankarani River

Mali400 km260 m³/s Kaduna River

Nigeria550 km640 m³/s Mékrou River

Niger410 km29 m³/s Faro River

Nigeria305 km360 m³/s Tinkisso River

Guinea268 km180 m³/s Sokoto River

Nigeria600 km290 m³/s Gongola River

Nigeria531 km210 m³/s Sota River

Benin250 km46 m³/s Milo River

Guinea330 km190 m³/s

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, places	Wikidata (Q289460) · 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

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

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