River
Saloum River
378 km from source to mouth · Senegal.
SenegalFlows into Atlantic Ocean3rd longest in Senegal
In numbers
Length
378km
Average flow
13m³/s
Basin
32,922km²
Drop
53m
from 51 m to -2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
378 km of river and 9 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 51 m
- 228 kmKaffrine57,307 people
- 250 kmBirkelane7,011 people
- 293 kmKaolack298,904 people
- 310 kmSibassor8,141 people
- 354 kmLoog26,796 people
- 356 kmFoundiougne Bridge
- 356 kmFoundiougne6,824 people
- 358 kmSine Rivertributary
- 373 kmMar Lodj3,270 people
- 378 kmAtlantic Oceanat -2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Senegal
At the mouth it carries 13 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 193 seconds. It drops from 51 m to -2 m, 0.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 32,922 km², about the size of MD. 3.9 million people live in it. Highest water: September; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- KaolackLargest city on its banks · 298,904 people
- Banjul International Airport (BJL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 110 km from the cityCar hire at DSS airport (Dakar)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water17 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From December to FebruaryThe best months to visit
Saloum River, month by month
Highest water: September
Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from December to February.
From about 0.5 m³/s in the lowest month to 49 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
Saloum River: the basin in numbers
32,922 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 3.9millionpeople live in the basin
- 119/km²people per km²
- 37maverage altitude of the basin
- 543mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 27.1°Caverage air temperature
- 17%protected areas
- 0.2%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 20% Cropland
- 38% 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
Saloum River: what you find on the way
- 2Boat ramps
- 5Ferry pierssalle d'attente ferry foundiougne, Foundiougne, Bac Dakhonga : Piéton 100F - Véhicule 1500F and 2 more
- 10MarinasGagué Bokar, Foundiougne, Soum and 7 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Saloum 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.
2islands off the mouthIslandyas
Islands off the mouth (2)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Fadiouth29 km away0.1km²
- Île de Guior27 km away80km²
Islandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗
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.
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
Also: Sine River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Gambia1,130 km2,000 m³/s82 km awayCasamance RiverSenegal401 km86 m³/s166 km awaySenegal RiverSenegal1,050 km640 m³/s225 km awayGeba River
Guinea-Bissau545 km130 m³/s288 km awayRio de CanjambariGuinea-Bissau69 km26 m³/s227 km awayCorubal RiverGuinea-Bissau560 km300 m³/s326 km awayGorgol River
Mauritania258 km66 m³/s405 km awayFalémé RiverMauritania400 km480 m³/s470 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q940142) · 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 | Islandyas — 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 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
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit