River
Mono River
467 km from source to mouth · Benin and Togo.
Benin and TogoFlows into Bight of Benin2nd longest in Benin
In numbers
Length
467km
Average flow
54m³/s
Basin
20,000km²
Drop
328m
from 328 m to 0 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
467 km of river and 3 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 328 m
- 270 kmMangbeto Reservoir128 km²
- 407 kmAthiémé15,195 people
- 453 kmGrand-Popo9,847 people
- 467 kmBight of Beninat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River of Togo and Benin
At the mouth it carries 54 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 46 seconds. It drops from 328 m to 0 m, 0.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 20,000 km², about the size of SI. 2.3 million people live in it. Highest water: from July to September; lowest: from December to March. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 57% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- AthiéméLargest city on its banks · 15,195 people
- Lomé–Tokoin International Airport (LFW)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 65 km from the cityCar hire at LFW airport (Lomé)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water16 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From November to January and AugustThe best months to visit
Mono River, month by month
Highest water: from July to September
Lowest water: from December to March. Best months to visit: from November to January and August.
From about 43 m³/s in the lowest month to 180 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
Mono River: the basin in numbers
24,089 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 2.3millionpeople live in the basin
- 95/km²people per km²
- 262maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,174mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 26.5°Caverage air temperature
- 9%protected areas
- 0.6%covered by lakes
- 1.7km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 55% Forest
- 50% Cropland
- 12% Pasture
- 4% 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
Mono River: what you find on the way
- 1Waterfalls
- 16Ferry piersonly for pedestrian, Hountigonmè, Houndjohoundji and 13 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Mono 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
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Mangbeto Reservoirkm 280128km²
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
Mono River in pictures
GhanaWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q268624) · 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.
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