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River

Berbice River

595 km from source to mouth · Guyana.

GuyanaGuyanaFlows into Atlantic Ocean4th longest in Guyana

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

595km

Average flow

370m³/s

Basin

50,347km²

Drop

104m

from 104 m to 0 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

595 km of river and 8 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

104 m0 m
Sourceat 104 m0 km
Christmas Falls (busay sa Guyana)213 km
Winters Falls242 km
Atlantic Oceanat 0 m595 km
0200400595 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 104 m
  2. 213 kmChristmas Falls (busay sa Guyana)
  3. 242 kmWinters Falls
  4. 246 kmItabu Falls (busay sa Upper Demerara-Berbice Region)
  5. 257 kmMarlissa Falls
  6. 587 kmBerbice Bridge
  7. 587 kmRosignol5,782 people
  8. 587 kmNew Amsterdam35,039 people
  9. 587 kmCanje Rivertributary
  10. 595 kmAtlantic Oceanat 0 m

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

River in Guyana

At the mouth it carries 373 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 6.7 seconds. It drops from 104 m to 0 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 50,347 km², about the size of CR. 21,000 people live in it. Highest water: from June to July; lowest: from October to December. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • New AmsterdamLargest city on its banks · 35,039 people
  • Cheddi Jagan International Airport (GEO)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 86 km from the cityCar hire at GEO airport (Georgetown)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water10 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From February to March and from October to NovemberThe best months to visit

Berbice River, month by month

Highest water: from June to July

Lowest water: from October to December. Best months to visit: from February to March and from October to November.

340
26°165 mmJan
340
26°109 mmFeb
320
26°120 mmMar
320
27°156 mmApr
460
27°280 mmMay
610
27°318 mmJun
670
27°266 mmJul
590
27°206 mmAug
420
28°100 mmSep
300
28°74 mmOct
240
28°95 mmNov
280
27°147 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 240 m³/s in the lowest month to 670 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

Berbice River: the basin in numbers

15,817 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.
  • 21,000people live in the basin
  • 1/km²people per km²
  • 63maverage altitude of the basin
  • 2,099mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 26.7°Caverage air temperature
  • 0.3%covered by lakes

What covers the basin

  • 82% Forest
  • 6% Cropland
  • 10% Pasture

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

Berbice River: what you find on the way

  • 1Boat ramps
  • 9Ferry piersBlairmont Stellin, New Amsterdam Stelling, Rosignol Stelling - Region #5 and 6 more

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

Cross-checked with our atlases

Berbice 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.

  • 4waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
  • 1island off the mouthIslandyas

Waterfalls (4)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Christmas Falls (busay sa Guyana)km 155
  2. Winters Fallskm 176
  3. Itabu Falls (busay sa Upper Demerara-Berbice Region)km 179
  4. Marlissa Fallskm 187

Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

Islands off the mouth (1)

Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas

  1. Crab Island4.4 km away

Islandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Berbice River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Berbice River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth17 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

Berbice River in pictures

BerbiceRiver
madmack66 · CC BY 2.0
On the ferry across the Berbice
madmack66 · CC BY 2.0
Pilings for the Berbice River bridge
Ian Mackenzie · CC BY 2.0
Kaart van de rivier de Berbice
Geleyn van Stapels · Public domain

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (1)

Also: Canje River

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q2896921) · 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 atlasesCascadyas, Islandyas — 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