River
Kapuas River
1,143 km from source to mouth · Indonesia.
IndonesiaFlows into South China Sea1st longest in Indonesia
In numbers
Length
1,143km
Average flow
6,700m³/s
Basin
98,749km²
Drop
657m
from 658 m to 1 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
1,143 km of river and 9 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 658 m
- 294 kmDanau Ara0.4 km²
- 334 kmDanau Termabas1.7 km²
- 338 kmDanau Menyuban0.6 km²
- 389 kmDanau Selegan3.1 km²
- 692 kmSintang85,000 people
- 695 kmMelawi Rivertributary
- 1,037 kmDanau Katuk0.7 km²
- 1,038 kmDanau Segelam0.5 km²
- 1,048 kmTayan Bridge
- 1,143 kmSouth China Seaat 1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in West Kalimantan, Indonesia
At the mouth it carries 6,707 m³/s on average: 2.7 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 658 m to 1 m, 0.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 98,749 km², about the size of KR. 1.4 million people live in it. Highest water: from December to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- SintangLargest city on its banks · 85,000 people
- Tebelian Airport (SQG)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 13 km from the cityCar hire at KCH airport (Kuching)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water11 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From November to February and JulyThe best months to visit
Kapuas River, month by month
Highest water: from December to March
Best months to visit: from November to February and July.
From about 3,900 m³/s in the lowest month to 7,500 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
Kapuas River: the basin in numbers
81,556 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.4millionpeople live in the basin
- 17/km²people per km²
- 239maverage altitude of the basin
- 3,254mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 25.7°Caverage air temperature
- 21%protected areas
- 0.7%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 46% Forest
- 32% Cropland
- 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
Kapuas River: what you find on the way
- 11Ferry piersPenyebrangan Ferry Tanjung, Penyebrangan Ferry Madya, Penyebrangan Klotok Madya and 8 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Kapuas 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.
6lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (6)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Danau Arakm 2290.4km²
- Danau Termabaskm 2601.7km²
- Danau Menyubankm 2630.6km²
- Danau Selegankm 3023.1km²
- Danau Katukkm 8060.7km²
- Danau Segelamkm 8070.5km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
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
Kapuas River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (3)
Also: Melawi River, Landak River, Sekayam River
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q841359) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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 — 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 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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