River
Blue Nile
1,783 km from source to mouth · Sudan and Ethiopia.
Sudan and EthiopiaFlows into Nile2nd longest in Sudan
In numbers
Length
1,783km
Average flow
1,500m³/s
Basin
325,000km²
Drop
1,413m
from 1,787 m to 374 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
1,783 km of river and 37 stops on the way: 19 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmLake Tanaat 1,787 m
- 5 kmBahir Dar350,000 people
- 7 kmLake Tana3,059 km²
- 34 kmT’īs Isat39,200 people
- 34 kmBlue Nile Falls42 m
- 163 kmBashilo Rivertributary
- 248 kmWalaqa Rivertributary
- 285 kmJamma Rivertributary
- 353 kmGuder Rivertributary
- 353 kmMuger Rivertributary
- 714 kmDidessa Rivertributary
- 825 kmDabus Rivertributary
- 865 kmBeles Rivertributary
- 906 kmGrand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
- 1,025 kmAsh Shallāl13,638 people
- 1,026 kmRoseires Reservoir225 km²
- 1,026 kmAd-Damazin186,051 people
- 1,034 kmEr Roseires58,712 people
- 1,116 kmJalqani9,472 people
- 1,229 kmSinga250,000 people
- 1,254 kmAs Sūkī33,524 people
- 1,268 kmUmm Shawkah20,302 people
- 1,293 kmMaiurno28,727 people
- 1,311 kmSennar Reservoir20 km²
- 1,319 kmSennar130,122 people
- 1,416 kmDinder Rivertributary
- 1,473 kmWad Medani332,714 people
- 1,519 kmRufā‘a28,374 people
- 1,528 kmAl Hasaheisa47,408 people
- 1,552 kmAl Hilāliyya17,345 people
- 1,585 kmWad Rāwah10,348 people
- 1,670 kmAl Mansheiya Bridge
- 1,677 kmBlue Nile Road and Railway Bridge
- 1,678 kmMac Nimir Bridge
- 1,679 kmKhartoum5,345,000 people
- 1,679 kmTuti Bridge
- 1,683 kmOmdurman1,849,659 people
- 1,683 kmKhartoum North1,012,211 people
- 1,783 kmNileat 374 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia that is a tributary of the Nile River
At the mouth it carries 1,525 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.6 seconds. It drops from 1,787 m to 374 m, 0.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 325,000 km², about the size of NO. 28.2 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from January to April. Its dams hold back little of its water (9.3% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- KhartoumLargest city on its banks · 5,345,000 people
- Khartoum International Airport (KRT)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 3 km from the city
- On the water12 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From November to FebruaryThe best months to visit
Blue Nile, month by month
Highest water: from August to September
Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from November to February.
From about 140 m³/s in the lowest month to 4,700 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
Blue Nile: the basin in numbers
308,195 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 28.2millionpeople live in the basin
- 92/km²people per km²
- 1,308maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,046mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 22.8°Caverage air temperature
- 4%protected areas
- 1.2%covered by lakes
- 4.6km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 3% Forest
- 14% Cropland
- 25% Pasture
- 3% 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
Blue Nile: what you find on the way
- 5Weirs
- 6WaterfallsBlue Nile Falls and 5 more
- 8Ferry piersBoat Station and 7 more
- 4MarinasBlue Nile Sailing club and 3 more
- 1River beaches
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Blue Nile 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
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Blue Nile Fallskm 3442m
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Tanakm 7 · 14 m deep3,059km²
- Roseires Reservoirkm 1,008225km²
- Sennar Reservoirkm 1,28920km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
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
Blue Nile in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Nile
Egypt6,650 km2,800 m³/sTributaries (11)
Also: Dinder River, Didessa River, Rahad River, Beles River, Dabus River, Bashilo River, Guder River, Jamma River, Muger River, Walaqa River, Gulla
In the same basin
Sudan2,620 km880 m³/sKagera River
Uganda400 km350 m³/sSobat River
South Sudan306 km410 m³/sAtbarah RiverSudan1,120 km370 m³/sBahr el Ghazal RiverSouth Sudan716 km2.0 m³/sTekezé RiverSudan608 km140 m³/sMara River
Tanzania395 km18 m³/sValley of the QueensEgypt4,302 km2,600 m³/sBaro RiverEthiopia306 km240 m³/sSemliki RiverUganda230 km240 m³/sWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q882739) · 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, Lakeyas — 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