River
Kagera River
400 km from source to mouth · 4 countries.
Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and BurundiFlows into Lake Victoria1st longest in Uganda
In numbers
Length
400km
Average flow
350m³/s
Basin
60,000km²
Drop
154m
from 1,290 m to 1,136 m
Countries
4
The journey
From source to mouth
400 km of river and 17 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,290 m
- 0 kmRurubu Rivertributary
- 1 kmRusumo Dam
- 1 kmRusumo Bridge
- 1 kmRusumo International Bridge
- 2 kmRusumo Falls15 m
- 39 kmLake Bisongu24 km²
- 53 kmLake Mpanga9.9 km²
- 57 kmLake Cyambwe23 km²
- 67 kmLake Rwakibali3.5 km²
- 84 kmLake Ihema94 km²
- 104 kmLac Kazingaine31 km²
- 124 kmLake Ruko4.5 km²
- 126 kmLake Mihindi7.1 km²
- 144 kmLake Rwanyakazinga22 km²
- 328 kmKyaka Bridge
- 328 kmKyaka13,810 people
- 333 kmKassambya37,028 people
- 400 kmLake Victoriaat 1,136 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in East Africa
At the mouth it carries 349 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 7.2 seconds. It drops from 1,290 m to 1,136 m, 0.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 60,000 km², about the size of TG. 16.7 million people live in it. Highest water: from April to May; lowest: from July to September. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- KassambyaLargest city on its banks · 37,028 people
- Kigali International Airport (KGL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 169 km from the cityCar hire at MWZ airport (Mwanza)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- January and from June to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Kagera River, month by month
Highest water: from April to May
Lowest water: from July to September. Best months to visit: January and from June to September.
From about 210 m³/s in the lowest month to 660 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
Kagera River: the basin in numbers
58,516 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 16.7millionpeople live in the basin
- 288/km²people per km²
- 1,537maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,103mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 19.6°Caverage air temperature
- 12%protected areas
- 1.7%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 21% Forest
- 27% Cropland
- 25% Pasture
- 11% 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
Kagera River: what you find on the way
- 1WeirsMurongo Hydropower Plant
- 1WaterfallsRusumo Falls
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Kagera 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.
1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
9lakes on its wayLakeyas
3mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Rusumo Fallskm 215m
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (9)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Bisongukm 4024km²
- Lake Mpangakm 559.9km²
- Lake Cyambwekm 5923km²
- Lake Ihemakm 8694km²
- Lac Kazingainekm 10731km²
- Lake Rukokm 1284.5km²
- Lake Mihindikm 1307.1km²
- Lake Rwanyakazingakm 14822km²
1 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (3)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Gashanga14 km away
- Remanyundo8.9 km away
- Rwanyamanza Hill14 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
Kagera River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (4)
Also: Muvumba river, Kagitumba river
In the same basin
Egypt6,650 km2,800 m³/sWhite Nile
Sudan2,620 km880 m³/sBlue NileSudan1,783 km1,500 m³/sSobat River
South Sudan306 km410 m³/sAtbarah RiverSudan1,120 km370 m³/sBahr el Ghazal RiverSouth Sudan716 km2.0 m³/sTekezé RiverSudan608 km140 m³/sMara RiverTanzania395 km18 m³/sValley of the QueensEgypt4,302 km2,600 m³/sBaro River
Ethiopia306 km240 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
Uganda177 km100 m³/s112 km awayRurubu RiverTanzania300 km100 m³/s196 km awayMara RiverTanzania395 km18 m³/s248 km awayNyabarongo RiverRwanda300 km110 m³/s220 km awayAkanyaru RiverRwanda212 km110 m³/s225 km awayNzoia River
Kenya334 km200 m³/s263 km awaySemliki RiverUganda230 km240 m³/s283 km awayRuzizi RiverBurundi117 km400 m³/s390 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2750140) · 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, 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?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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