River
Cuando River
731 km from source to mouth · 4 countries.
Namibia, Angola, Zambia and BotswanaFlows into Zambezi River2nd longest in Namibia
In numbers
Length
731km
Average flow
64m³/s
Basin
113,393km²
Drop
375m
from 1,320 m to 945 m
Countries
4
The journey
From source to mouth
731 km of river and 0 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmBié Plateauat 1,320 m
- 731 kmZambezi Riverat 945 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in south-central Africa
At the mouth it carries 64 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 39 seconds. It drops from 1,320 m to 945 m, 0.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 113,393 km², about the size of BJ. 172,000 people live in it. Highest water: from February to March; lowest: from July to October. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- LinyantiLargest city on its banks · 1,061 people
- Katima Mulilo Airport (MPA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 52 km from the cityCar hire at BBK airport (Kasane)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Cuando River, month by month
Highest water: from February to March
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 26 m³/s in the lowest month to 140 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
Cuando River: the basin in numbers
120,689 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 172,000people live in the basin
- 1/km²people per km²
- 1,134maverage altitude of the basin
- 784mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 21.3°Caverage air temperature
- 27%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 32% Forest
- 1% Cropland
- 40% 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
Cuando River: what you find on the way
- 2Ferry piersJetty
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
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
Cuando River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Zambezi River
Mozambique2,574 km7,000 m³/s
MalawiWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q182942) · 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
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