River
Mantaro River
724 km from source to mouth · Peru.
PeruFlows into Ene River7th longest in Peru
In numbers
Length
724km
Average flow
800m³/s
Basin
35,545km²
Drop
3,613m
from 4,081 m to 468 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
724 km of river and 12 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmLake Junínat 4,081 m
- 12 kmLake Junín163 km²
- 98 kmLa Oroya33,345 people
- 177 kmJauja21,057 people
- 205 kmConcepción11,330 people
- 206 kmAchamayo Rivertributary
- 210 kmSan Jeronimo De Tunan8,772 people
- 222 kmPilcomayo8,169 people
- 225 kmHuancayo378,203 people
- 225 kmCunas Rivertributary
- 227 kmChilca73,371 people
- 228 kmPuente Comuneros I
- 311 kmIchu Rivertributary
- 724 kmEne Riverat 468 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Left headwater of the Ene River in Peru
At the mouth it carries 803 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 3.1 seconds. It drops from 4,081 m to 468 m, 5.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 35,545 km², about the size of TW. 1.6 million people live in it. Highest water: from February to March; lowest: from June to September. Its dams hold back little of its water (2.4% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- HuancayoLargest city on its banks · 378,203 people
- Francisco Carle Airport (JAU)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 42 km from the cityCar hire at LIM airport (Lima)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From April to May and from September to NovemberThe best months to visit
Mantaro River, month by month
Highest water: from February to March
Lowest water: from June to September. Best months to visit: from April to May and from September to November.
From about 290 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,500 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
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
Mantaro River: the basin in numbers
34,669 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.6millionpeople live in the basin
- 45/km²people per km²
- 3,882maverage altitude of the basin
- 858mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 7.6°Caverage air temperature
- 9%protected areas
- 1.2%covered by lakes
- 0.6km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 16% Forest
- 6% Cropland
- 42% Pasture
- 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
Mantaro River: what you find on the way
- 1Weirs
- 2WaterfallsCataratas Gemelas de Casaracra
- 2Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Mantaro 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.
1lake on its wayLakeyas
18mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Junínkm 11 · 281 m deep163km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (18)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cerro Incapirca13 km away
- Cerro Tupunhuay Cruz12 km away
- Cerro Chacchagan14 km away
- Loma Cucuparac Chico9.5 km away
- Cerro Lamatrias12 km away
- Cerro Gircaccancha13 km away
- Cerro Huaracancha14 km away
- Cerro Huaycancha12 km away
10 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.
Photos
Mantaro River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Ene RiverPeru160 km2,500 m³/sTributaries (10)
Also: Cunas River, Ichu River, Cachi River, Vilca River, Achamayo River, Yauli River, Pachacayo River, San Fernando River, Yacus River, Chanchas River
In the same basin
Brazil6,400 km209,000 m³/sRio NegroBrazil2,250 km30,000 m³/sMadeira RiverBrazil1,450 km31,200 m³/sMarañón RiverPeru1,737 km16,700 m³/sUcayali RiverPeru1,460 km12,600 m³/sJapurá RiverBrazil2,820 km13,900 m³/sXingu RiverBrazil1,640 km9,700 m³/sMamoré RiverBrazil1,930 km11,600 m³/sJuruá RiverBrazil3,100 km4,800 m³/sTapajós RiverBrazil1,930 km13,000 m³/sWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q773333) · 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?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
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waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit