River
Ghaghara River
1,080 km from source to mouth · India, China and Nepal.
India, China and NepalFlows into Ganges7th longest in India
In numbers
Length
1,080km
Average flow
3,300m³/s
Basin
127,950km²
Drop
4,533m
from 4,580 m to 47 m
Countries
3
The journey
From source to mouth
1,080 km of river and 14 stops on the way: 8 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 4,580 m
- 458 kmKarnali Bridge
- 578 kmBabai Rivertributary
- 593 kmChahlari Ghat Bridge
- 622 kmSharda Rivertributary
- 650 kmElgin Bridge (Barabanki)
- 735 kmAyodhya53,293 people
- 794 kmTāndā88,073 people
- 868 kmGola Bāzār10,936 people
- 887 kmDohrighāt11,180 people
- 887 kmChillupār20,518 people
- 909 kmWest Rapti Rivertributary
- 937 kmBilthra17,228 people
- 1,019 kmRevelganj39,039 people
- 1,021 kmShitāb Diāra11,800 people
- 1,080 kmGangesat 47 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Perennial trans-boundary river originating on the Tibetan Plateau near Lake Mansarovar
At the mouth it carries 3,278 m³/s on average: 1.3 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 4,580 m to 47 m, 4.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 127,950 km², about the size of NI. 53.9 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from February to May. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- TāndāLargest city on its banks · 88,073 people
- Maharshi Valmiki International Airport (AYJ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 54 km from the cityCar hire in KathmanduDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From February to April and from November to DecemberThe best months to visit
Ghaghara River, month by month
Highest water: from August to September
Lowest water: from February to May. Best months to visit: from February to April and from November to December.
From about 530 m³/s in the lowest month to 10,700 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
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The basin
Ghaghara River: the basin in numbers
131,948 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 53.9millionpeople live in the basin
- 411/km²people per km²
- 1,578maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,209mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 17.0°Caverage air temperature
- 11%protected areas
- 0.1%covered by lakes
- 2%glaciers
- 8%permafrost
- 0.6km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 29% Forest
- 37% Cropland
- 5% Pasture
- 7% Towns and cities
- 2% Ice
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
Ghaghara River: what you find on the way
- 1Weirs
- 2WaterfallsChyachhara Jharna, Bayal Jharana
- 2Ferry piers
- 1River beachessand beach
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 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
Ghaghara River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
GangesIndia2,525 km12,000 m³/sTributaries (3)
Also: Babai River
In the same basin
India2,900 km19,500 m³/sYamunaIndia1,376 km3,500 m³/sPadma River
Bangladesh120 km32,000 m³/sGandaki RiverIndia630 km1,800 m³/sChambal RiverIndia960 km600 m³/sJamuna RiverBangladesh245 km20,100 m³/sTeesta RiverBangladesh470 km1,300 m³/sGomti RiverIndia900 km230 m³/sKosi RiverIndia729 km2,300 m³/sSon RiverIndia780 km1,200 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
India780 km1,200 m³/s24 km awayGandaki RiverIndia630 km1,800 m³/s54 km awayWest Rapti RiverIndia600 km580 m³/s116 km awayGomti RiverIndia900 km230 m³/s180 km awayYamunaIndia1,376 km3,500 m³/s281 km awayTrishuli RiverNepal163 km1,000 m³/s223 km awayKosi RiverIndia729 km2,300 m³/s263 km awayMarshyangdiNepal150 km220 m³/s235 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q390232) · 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?
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