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River

Farah River

580 km from source to mouth · Afghanistan.

AfghanistanAfghanistanFlows into Daryācheh-ye Hāmūn Şāberī1st longest in Afghanistan

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

580km

Average flow

35m³/s

Basin

28,015km²

Drop

2,047m

from 2,518 m to 471 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

580 km of river and 2 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

2,518 m471 m
Sourceat 2,518 m0 km
Farah43,561 people416 km
Daryācheh-ye Hāmūn Şāberīat 471 m580 km
0200400580 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 2,518 m
  2. 416 kmFarah43,561 people
  3. 552 kmDaryācheh-ye Hāmūn Şāberī489 km²
  4. 580 kmDaryācheh-ye Hāmūn Şāberīat 471 m

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

River in Afghanistan

At the mouth it carries 35 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 71 seconds. It drops from 2,518 m to 471 m, 3.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 28,015 km², about the size of GQ. 539,000 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.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • FarahLargest city on its banks · 43,561 people
  • Herat - Khwaja Abdullah Ansari International Airport (HEA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 204 km from the city
  • On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From April to June and from September to OctoberThe best months to visit

Farah River, month by month

Highest water: from February to March

Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from April to June and from September to October.

210
1°36 mmJan
290
3°35 mmFeb
270
10°29 mmMar
160
15°14 mmApr
61
20°6 mmMay
12
25°0 mmJun
1.3
27°0 mmJul
0.0
26°0 mmAug
0.0
20°0 mmSep
1.1
15°3 mmOct
17
8°11 mmNov
93
3°25 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 0.0 m³/s in the lowest month to 290 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

Farah River: the basin in numbers

30,340 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.
  • 539,000people live in the basin
  • 18/km²people per km²
  • 1,714maverage altitude of the basin
  • 193mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 11.6°Caverage air temperature
  • 2%protected areas
  • 0.1%covered by lakes

What covers the basin

  • 17% Cropland
  • 53% 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

Farah River: what you find on the way

  • 1Waterfalls
  • 2Ferry piers

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Farah 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.

  • 1lake on its wayLakeyas
  • 32mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (1)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Daryācheh-ye Hāmūn Şāberīkm 587489km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (32)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Khushkāwah8.9 km away2,847m
  2. Band-e Bowr9.9 km away2,783m
  3. Armānābād3.0 km away2,756m
  4. Kōrow13 km away
  5. Palpalsow11 km away
  6. Shakhfalak8.7 km away
  7. Sang-e Dumdarāz14 km away
  8. Garmāw9.7 km away

24 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Farah River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Farah River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth24 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

Farah River in pictures

Tojg-LashwaJuwayn-Farah
Department of Defense · Public domain

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q2091566) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth 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 atlasesLakeyas, 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.

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