River
Tana River
800 km from source to mouth · Kenya.
KenyaFlows into Indian Ocean1st longest in Kenya
In numbers
Length
800km
Average flow
240m³/s
Basin
95,000km²
Drop
1,481m
from 1,481 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
800 km of river and 11 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmAberdare Rangeat 1,481 m
- 25 kmSagana13,000 people
- 75 kmThika Rivertributary
- 84 kmMasinga Dam
- 100 kmKamburu Hydroelectric Power Station
- 110 kmGitaru Hydroelectric Power Station
- 120 kmKindaruma Power Station
- 157 kmKiambere Hydroelectric Power Station
- 198 kmGrand Falls
- 441 kmGarissa163,399 people
- 586 kmHola20,912 people
- 720 kmLake Shaka Babo0.6 km²
- 800 kmIndian Oceanat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River of Kenya
At the mouth it carries 242 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 10 seconds. It drops from 1,481 m to 0 m, 1.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 95,000 km², about the size of HU. 6.0 million people live in it. Highest water: May and from November to December; lowest: March and from August to October. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (32% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- GarissaLargest city on its banks · 163,399 people
- Manda Airport (LAU)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 245 km from the cityCar hire at NBO airport (Nairobi)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Tana River, month by month
Highest water: May and from November to December
Lowest water: March and from August to October. Best months to visit: from June to September.
From about 88 m³/s in the lowest month to 440 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
Tana River: the basin in numbers
95,243 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 6.0millionpeople live in the basin
- 63/km²people per km²
- 585maverage altitude of the basin
- 713mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 24.5°Caverage air temperature
- 22%protected areas
- 0.1%covered by lakes
- 2.4km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 14% Forest
- 8% Cropland
- 34% 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
Tana River: what you find on the way
- 3Weirs
- 3WaterfallsMission Falls, Adamsons Falls
- 2Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Tana 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.
1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
1lake on its wayLakeyas
3mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Grand Fallskm 205
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Shaka Babokm 7440.6km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (3)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Karĩma13 km away
- Tũmũ Tũmũ3.0 km away
- Kiamucheru12 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
Tana River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
Also: Thika River
Somalia
TanzaniaWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q331162) · 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 | 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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