River
Kaduna River
550 km from source to mouth · Nigeria.
NigeriaFlows into Niger River5th longest in Nigeria
In numbers
Length
550km
Average flow
640m³/s
Basin
66,300km²
Drop
836m
from 893 m to 57 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
550 km of river and 4 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 893 m
- 188 kmKangimi Reservoir7.8 km²
- 212 kmKaduna1,850,000 people
- 314 kmShiroro Reservoir271 km²
- 406 kmZungeru24,447 people
- 550 kmNiger Riverat 57 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Nigeria
At the mouth it carries 642 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 3.9 seconds. It drops from 893 m to 57 m, 1.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 66,300 km², about the size of LK. 7.9 million people live in it. Highest water: September; lowest: from January to April. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (35% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- KadunaLargest city on its banks · 1,850,000 people
- Kaduna International Airport (KAD)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 23 km from the cityCar hire at ABV airport (Abuja)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From November to JanuaryThe best months to visit
Kaduna River, month by month
Highest water: September
Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from November to January.
From about 110 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,400 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
Kaduna River: the basin in numbers
65,667 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 7.9millionpeople live in the basin
- 121/km²people per km²
- 518maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,196mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 25.8°Caverage air temperature
- 13%protected areas
- 0.4%covered by lakes
- 7.1km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 5% Forest
- 32% Cropland
- 30% Pasture
- 5% 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
Kaduna River: what you find on the way
- 2Weirs
- 1Locks
- 2Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Kaduna 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.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
13mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Kangimi Reservoirkm 2157.8km²
- Shiroro Reservoirkm 359271km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (13)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Vom Hills1.8 km away
- North Ganawuri4.1 km away
- Maiangwa12 km away
- Dan Mongu6.3 km away
- North Vom5.5 km away
- Kato9.1 km away
- Kuru Hills14 km away
- Kuru13 km away
5 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
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.
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Niger RiverNigeria4,180 km8,600 m³/sTributaries (2)
Also: River Galma, Karami (Fluss)
In the same basin
Nigeria1,370 km3,200 m³/sBani River
Mali430 km510 m³/sSankarani RiverMali400 km260 m³/sMékrou River
Niger410 km29 m³/sFaro RiverNigeria305 km360 m³/sTinkisso River
Guinea268 km180 m³/sSokoto RiverNigeria600 km290 m³/sGongola RiverNigeria531 km210 m³/sSota River
Benin250 km46 m³/sMilo RiverGuinea330 km190 m³/sWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2338605) · 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 | Lakeyas, 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?
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