Stream
Nyong River
640 km from source to mouth · Cameroon.
CameroonFlows into Bight of Biafra3rd longest in Cameroon
In numbers
Length
640km
Average flow
450m³/s
Basin
28,000km²
Drop
680m
from 681 m to 1 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
640 km of river and 5 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 681 m
- 23 kmAbong Mbang24,433 people
- 155 kmAkonolinga30,078 people
- 314 kmMbalmayo82,384 people
- 418 kmChute Mpoumé
- 461 kmchutes de Ngo Njock Lipo
- 640 kmBight of Biafraat 1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Cameroon
At the mouth it carries 446 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 5.6 seconds. It drops from 681 m to 1 m, 1.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 28,000 km², about the size of GQ. 3.1 million people live in it. Highest water: from October to November; lowest: from January to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- MbalmayoLargest city on its banks · 82,384 people
- Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport (NSI)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 24 km from the cityCar hire at DLA airport (Douala)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From December to FebruaryThe best months to visit
Nyong River, month by month
Highest water: from October to November
Lowest water: from January to March. Best months to visit: from December to February.
From about 200 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,600 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
Nyong River: the basin in numbers
27,887 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 3.1millionpeople live in the basin
- 109/km²people per km²
- 588maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,811mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 24.1°Caverage air temperature
- 4%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 83% Forest
- 1% 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
Nyong River: what you find on the way
- 3WaterfallsChute Mpoumé, Chutes de Dehanè
- 2Boat ramps
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Nyong 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.
2waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
Waterfalls (2)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Chute Mpoumékm 418
- chutes de Ngo Njock Lipokm 462
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
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
Nyong River in pictures
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Cameroon918 km2,100 m³/s43 km awayWouri RiverCameroon160 km620 m³/s93 km awayCampo River
Equatorial Guinea460 km720 m³/s102 km awayMbam RiverCameroon425 km710 m³/s198 km awayBenito RiverEquatorial Guinea365 km510 m³/s190 km awayCross River
Nigeria489 km170 m³/s252 km awayUtamboni RiverEquatorial Guinea141 km340 m³/s251 km awayNiger RiverNigeria4,180 km8,600 m³/s446 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2573357) · 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 | Cascadyas — 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.
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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