Stream
Moa River
425 km from source to mouth · Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
Sierra Leone, Guinea and LiberiaFlows into Atlantic Ocean1st longest in Sierra Leone
In numbers
Length
425km
Average flow
890m³/s
Basin
17,900km²
Drop
643m
from 643 m to 0 m
Countries
3
The journey
From source to mouth
425 km of river and 5 stops on the way: 5 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 643 m
- 96 kmGueckedou79,140 people
- 207 kmManowa4,214 people
- 235 kmDaru5,958 people
- 267 kmGiehun3,350 people
- 377 kmBomi5,463 people
- 425 kmAtlantic Oceanat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in west Africa
At the mouth it carries 893 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.8 seconds. It drops from 643 m to 0 m, 1.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 17,900 km², about the size of KW. 1.5 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to October; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- GueckedouLargest city on its banks · 79,140 people
- On the water9 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From December to JanuaryThe best months to visit
Moa River, month by month
Highest water: from August to October
Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from December to January.
From about 150 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,200 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
Moa River: the basin in numbers
19,649 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.5millionpeople live in the basin
- 79/km²people per km²
- 409maverage altitude of the basin
- 2,567mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 25.1°Caverage air temperature
- 2%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 16% Forest
- 6% Cropland
- 4% Pasture
- 3% 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
Moa River: what you find on the way
- 1Boat ramps
- 8Ferry piersDébarcadère, Small local boat transfer and 6 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Moa 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.
3mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Mountains at the source (3)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Kounsou14 km away
- Korakonko9.6 km away
- Didissa9.1 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.
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2503121) · 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 | 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
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
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
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit