River
Essequibo River
1,014 km from source to mouth · Guyana and Venezuela.
Guyana and VenezuelaFlows into Atlantic Ocean1st longest in Guyana
In numbers
Length
1,014km
Average flow
2,100m³/s
Basin
155,000km²
Drop
245m
from 245 m to 0 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
1,014 km of river and 34 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 245 m
- 43 kmOnoro Fall
- 94 kmYukanopito Falls
- 251 kmGreat Falls
- 272 kmConsideration Falls
- 289 kmIte Falls (busay sa Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region)
- 333 kmJacobs Ladder Falls
- 372 kmKing George V Falls
- 416 kmManarowa Great Fall
- 614 kmCashew Fall
- 619 kmAkramukra Falls
- 675 kmWamapu Falls
- 680 kmKurupukari Falls
- 719 kmSiparuni Rivertributary
- 754 kmBatewa Fall
- 757 kmLittle Yukuriba Fall
- 757 kmGreat Yukuriba Falls
- 761 kmAkaiwatta Fall
- 781 kmWaraputa Fall
- 794 kmKonawaruk Rivertributary
- 800 kmPotaro Rivertributary
- 810 kmCrab Fall (busay sa Guyana)
- 813 kmKumaka Falls
- 813 kmKumaka Fall
- 861 kmArisaru Fall
- 924 kmIteballi Fall
- 932 kmMarihi Fall
- 932 kmKoriheri Fall
- 932 kmBrabaru Fall (busay sa Guyana)
- 933 kmPeticock Fall
- 934 kmHead Falls
- 938 kmKumaka Serima Fall
- 973 kmBartica11,486 people
- 975 kmCuyuni Rivertributary
- 978 kmMazaruni Rivertributary
- 1,014 kmAtlantic Oceanat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Major river in northern South America
At the mouth it carries 2,104 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.2 seconds. It drops from 245 m to 0 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 155,000 km², about the size of SR. 210,000 people live in it. Highest water: from June to August; lowest: from November to February. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- BarticaLargest city on its banks · 11,486 people
- Cheddi Jagan International Airport (GEO)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 42 km from the cityCar hire at GEO airport (Georgetown)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water9 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From October to FebruaryThe best months to visit
Essequibo River, month by month
Highest water: from June to August
Lowest water: from November to February. Best months to visit: from October to February.
From about 2,500 m³/s in the lowest month to 6,600 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
Essequibo River: the basin in numbers
154,860 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 210,000people live in the basin
- 1/km²people per km²
- 278maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,886mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 25.7°Caverage air temperature
- 27%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 83% Forest
- 1% Cropland
- 4% 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
Essequibo River: what you find on the way
- 1Waterfalls
- 9Ferry piersspeedboat to Parika and 8 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Essequibo 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.
28waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (28)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Onoro Fallkm 36
- Yukanopito Fallskm 78
- Great Fallskm 210
- Consideration Fallskm 227
- Ite Falls (busay sa Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region)km 242
- Jacobs Ladder Fallskm 278
- King George V Fallskm 311
- Waraputa Fallkm 652
20 more on CascadyasCascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Kaiawaka Mountain13 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
Essequibo River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (7)
Also: Potaro River, Mazaruni River, Konawaruk River, Siparuni River, Rupununi River, Rewa River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Guyana618 km2,100 m³/s5 km awayDemerara RiverGuyana350 km290 m³/s59 km awayBerbice RiverGuyana595 km370 m³/s119 km awayCourantyne RiverGuyana724 km580 m³/s177 km awayOrinoco RiverVenezuela2,140 km30,000 m³/s354 km awayCoppename River
Suriname400 km550 m³/s303 km awaySaramacca RiverSuriname255 km280 m³/s304 km awaySuriname RiverSuriname480 km440 m³/s392 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q589911) · 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.
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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 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit