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River

Kikori River

320 km from source to mouth · Papua New Guinea.

Papua New GuineaPapua New GuineaFlows into Gulf of Papua3rd longest in Papua New Guinea

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

320km

Average flow

1,400m³/s

Basin

23,309km²

Drop

1,703m

from 1,700 m to -3 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

320 km of river and 0 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,700 m-3 m
Sourceat 1,700 m0 km
Gulf of Papuaat -3 m320 km
0100200320 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 1,700 m
  2. 320 kmGulf of Papuaat -3 m

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

River in Papua New Guinea

At the mouth it carries 1,398 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.8 seconds. It drops from 1,700 m to -3 m, 5.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 23,309 km², about the size of DJ. 357,000 people live in it. Highest water: from May to July and October. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • IhuLargest city on its banks · 712 people
  • Kerema Airport (KMA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 42 km from the city
  • From January to MayThe best months to visit

Kikori River, month by month

Highest water: from May to July and October

Best months to visit: from January to May.

1,100
25°375 mmJan
1,300
25°385 mmFeb
1,500
24°432 mmMar
1,600
24°400 mmApr
1,700
24°436 mmMay
1,700
24°401 mmJun
1,700
23°398 mmJul
1,500
23°388 mmAug
1,600
23°416 mmSep
1,600
24°411 mmOct
1,300
25°311 mmNov
1,100
25°345 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 1,100 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,700 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

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

Kikori River: the basin in numbers

16,574 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.
  • 357,000people live in the basin
  • 22/km²people per km²
  • 1,077maverage altitude of the basin
  • 4,155mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 21.0°Caverage air temperature
  • 2%protected areas
  • 0.3%covered by lakes

What covers the basin

  • 86% Forest
  • 3% 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

Kikori River: what you find on the way

  • 1Waterfalls

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Kikori 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.

  • 4mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Mountains at the source (4)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Mount Tere11 km away
  2. Mount Pagaruma2.1 km away
  3. Mount Kworeba9.5 km away
  4. Mount Huriba7.4 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Kikori River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Kikori River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth18 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.

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1741220) · 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 atlasesPeakyas — 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