River
Omo River
760 km from source to mouth · Ethiopia.
EthiopiaFlows into Lake Turkana3rd longest in EthiopiaUNESCO World Heritage
In numbers
Length
760km
Average flow
900m³/s
Basin
70,420km²
Drop
745m
from 1,106 m to 361 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
760 km of river and 9 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmGibe Riverat 1,106 m
- 0 kmGibe Rivertributary
- 18 kmWabe Rivertributary
- 112 kmGojeb Rivertributary
- 188 kmGilgel Gibe III Dam
- 277 kmZigina Rivertributary
- 326 kmDenchya Rivertributary
- 426 kmMui Rivertributary
- 556 kmUsno Rivertributary
- 597 kmDīp'a Hāyk'2.0 km²
- 760 kmLake Turkanaat 361 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Ethiopia
At the mouth it carries 902 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.8 seconds. It drops from 1,106 m to 361 m, 1.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 70,420 km², about the size of IE. 10.2 million people live in it. Highest water: from June to September; lowest: from December to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- LobuniLargest city on its banks · 3,363 people
- Jinka Airport (BCO)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 114 km from the city
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From September to JanuaryThe best months to visit
Omo River, month by month
Highest water: from June to September
Lowest water: from December to March. Best months to visit: from September to January.
From about 150 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,300 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
Omo River: the basin in numbers
70,420 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 10.2millionpeople live in the basin
- 145/km²people per km²
- 1,523maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,301mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 21.0°Caverage air temperature
- 20%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 14% Forest
- 9% Cropland
- 7% 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
Omo River: what you find on the way
- 3Weirs
- 2Ferry piersOmorate Ferry Crossing (Brr 150 Per Person), Omorate boat crossing
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Omo 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
- Dīp'a Hāyk'km 6982.0km²
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
Omo River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (8)
Also: Gibe River, Gojeb River, Wabe River, Usno River, Denchya River, Mui River, Zigina River, Mantsa River
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q273456) · 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 — 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