River
Shire River
402 km from source to mouth · Mozambique and Malawi.
Mozambique and MalawiFlows into Zambezi River4th longest in Mozambique
In numbers
Length
402km
Average flow
600m³/s
Basin
149,500km²
Drop
448m
from 476 m to 28 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
402 km of river and 11 stops on the way: 4 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmLake Malawiat 476 m
- 2 kmLake Malawi29,544 km²
- 9 kmMangochi60,338 people
- 39 kmLake Malombe310 km²
- 71 kmLiwonde41,077 people
- 98 kmShire North railway bridge
- 119 kmMurchison Falls
- 135 kmNkula Falls
- 177 kmKapichira Falls
- 191 kmChikwawa6,987 people
- 265 kmRuo Rivertributary
- 306 kmNsanje30,276 people
- 402 kmZambezi Riverat 28 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in southern Malawi and central Mozambique
At the mouth it carries 602 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 4.2 seconds. It drops from 476 m to 28 m, 1.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 149,500 km², about the size of BD. 15.4 million people live in it. Highest water: from February to March; lowest: from July to October. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- MangochiLargest city on its banks · 60,338 people
- Lichinga Airport (VXC)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 134 km from the cityCar hire at TET airport (Tete)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water5 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Shire River, month by month
Highest water: from February to March
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 160 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
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
Shire River: the basin in numbers
161,058 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 15.4millionpeople live in the basin
- 97/km²people per km²
- 888maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,154mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 21.9°Caverage air temperature
- 11%protected areas
- 18.6%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 40% Forest
- 14% Cropland
- 31% Pasture
- 6% 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
Shire River: what you find on the way
- 4WeirsLiwonde Barrage and 3 more
- 3WaterfallsKholobitzo Falls, Tedzani Falls, Kapichira Falls
- 1Boat ramps
- 4Ferry piersTransfer to Mvuu and Kuthengo and 3 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Shire 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.
3waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
4mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (3)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Murchison Fallskm 140
- Nkula Fallskm 160
- Kapichira Fallskm 209
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Malawikm 3 · 704 m deep29,544km²
- Lake Malombekm 46 · 20 m deep310km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (4)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Nkopola Hill14 km away
- Sungusya9.7 km away
- Mauni13 km away
- Chiuse9.9 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
Shire River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Zambezi RiverMozambique2,574 km7,000 m³/sTributaries (1)
Zambia
NamibiaWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2279579) · 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, 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
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
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