River
Rokel River
386 km from source to mouth · Sierra Leone.
Sierra LeoneFlows into Atlantic Ocean2nd longest in Sierra Leone
In numbers
Length
386km
Average flow
430m³/s
Basin
10,622km²
Drop
436m
from 437 m to 1 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
386 km of river and 3 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 437 m
- 144 kmBumbuna3,222 people
- 202 kmMagburaka14,915 people
- 304 kmRokupr12,744 people
- 386 kmAtlantic Oceanat 1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Sierra Leone
At the mouth it carries 432 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 5.8 seconds. It drops from 437 m to 1 m, 1.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 10,622 km², about the size of LB. 423,000 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
- MagburakaLargest city on its banks · 14,915 people
- Lungi International Airport (FNA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 138 km from the city
- On the water3 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From December to JanuaryThe best months to visit
Rokel 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 49 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,200 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
Rokel River: the basin in numbers
7,986 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 423,000people live in the basin
- 53/km²people per km²
- 271maverage altitude of the basin
- 2,521mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 25.8°Caverage air temperature
What covers the basin
- 29% Forest
- 11% Cropland
- 7% Pasture
- 2% 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
Rokel River: what you find on the way
- 3Ferry piersBWMA Boat Docking Point
- 1River beachesBWMA Katene Docking Point
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Rokel 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.
5mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Mountains at the source (5)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Konkoba14 km away
- Yeleme10 km away
- Kambaia11 km away
- Tirnikono11 km away
- Sanakonko11 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.
Photos
Rokel River in pictures
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Sierra Leone262 km370 m³/s48 km awayKonkouré River
Guinea303 km640 m³/s177 km awayMoa RiverSierra Leone425 km890 m³/s228 km awayMano River
Liberia320 km370 m³/s240 km awayLofa RiverLiberia347 km520 m³/s297 km awaySaint Paul RiverLiberia450 km900 m³/s336 km awayCorubal River
Guinea-Bissau560 km300 m³/s405 km awayGeba RiverGuinea-Bissau545 km130 m³/s442 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1781219) · 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 | 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.
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Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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