River
Nyabarongo River
300 km from source to mouth · Rwanda.
RwandaFlows into Kagera River1st longest in Rwanda
In numbers
Length
300km
Average flow
110m³/s
Basin
15,868km²
Drop
315m
from 1,639 m to 1,324 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
300 km of river and 15 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,639 m
- 63 kmMbirurume Rivertributary
- 69 kmMwogo Rivertributary
- 202 kmNyabugogo Rivertributary
- 203 kmKamuhanda / Ruyenzi16,369 people
- 231 kmKanzenze Bridge
- 231 kmNyabarongo bridge
- 231 kmAkanyaru Rivertributary
- 264 kmLake Mugesera43 km²
- 269 kmLake Gashanga1.7 km²
- 269 kmLake Kidogo1.0 km²
- 271 kmLake Birira5.5 km²
- 271 kmLake Rumira3.8 km²
- 275 kmLake Mirayi2.7 km²
- 283 kmLake Sake16 km²
- 299 kmLake Rweru126 km²
- 300 kmKagera Riverat 1,324 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Rwanda
At the mouth it carries 112 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 22 seconds. It drops from 1,639 m to 1,324 m, 1.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 15,868 km², about the size of TL. 7.9 million people live in it. Highest water: from April to May; lowest: from July to September. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- Kamuhanda / RuyenziLargest city on its banks · 16,369 people
- Kigali International Airport (KGL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 17 km from the cityCar hire in KigaliDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Nyabarongo River, month by month
Highest water: from April to May
Lowest water: from July to September. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 76 m³/s in the lowest month to 190 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
Nyabarongo River: the basin in numbers
15,868 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 7.9millionpeople live in the basin
- 507/km²people per km²
- 1,733maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,167mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 18.9°Caverage air temperature
- 3%protected areas
- 1.7%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 11% Forest
- 35% Cropland
- 16% Pasture
- 22% 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
Nyabarongo River: what you find on the way
- 2Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Nyabarongo 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.
8lakes on its wayLakeyas
11mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (8)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Mugeserakm 24143km²
- Lake Gashangakm 2451.7km²
- Lake Kidogokm 2461.0km²
- Lake Birirakm 2475.5km²
- Lake Rumirakm 2473.8km²
- Lake Mirayikm 2502.7km²
- Lake Sakekm 258 · 4 m deep16km²
- Lake Rwerukm 272 · 4 m deep126km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (11)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Gatandaganya14 km away2,468m
- Mount Huye12 km away2,278m
- Katandaganya15 km away2,216m
- Muliro7.2 km away2,167m
- Remera6.8 km away2,060m
- Rugarama6.4 km away
- Kagano14 km away
- Mukingo11 km away
3 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
Nyabarongo River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Kagera River
Uganda400 km350 m³/sTributaries (6)
Also: Mwogo River, Mbirurume River, Mukungwa, Nyabugogo River, Base
In the same basin
Egypt6,650 km2,800 m³/sWhite Nile
Sudan2,620 km880 m³/sBlue NileSudan1,783 km1,500 m³/sSobat River
South Sudan306 km410 m³/sAtbarah RiverSudan1,120 km370 m³/sBahr el Ghazal RiverSouth Sudan716 km2.0 m³/sTekezé RiverSudan608 km140 m³/sMara River
Tanzania395 km18 m³/sValley of the QueensEgypt4,302 km2,600 m³/sBaro River
Ethiopia306 km240 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
Tanzania300 km100 m³/s46 km awayAkanyaru RiverRwanda212 km110 m³/s44 km awayRuzizi River
Burundi117 km400 m³/s170 km awayMubarazi RiverBurundi67 km28 m³/s103 km awayRuhwa RiverRwanda50 km6.0 m³/s154 km awayMugere RiverBurundi293 km100 m³/s179 km awayMalagarasi RiverTanzania475 km340 m³/s335 km awayKatonga RiverUganda177 km100 m³/s307 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q505366) · 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, 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
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