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River

Tano River

400 km from source to mouth · Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Ivory CoastGhanaIvory Coast and GhanaFlows into Gulf of Guinea5th longest in Ivory Coast

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

400km

Average flow

150m³/s

Basin

16,250km²

Drop

328m

from 327 m to -1 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

400 km of river and 8 stops on the way: 4 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

327 m-1 m
Sourceat 327 m0 km
Atangwen Falls283 km
Nini Rivertributary329 km
Gulf of Guineaat -1 m400 km
0100200300400 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 327 m
  2. 0 kmTanoboase Sacred Grove
  3. 283 kmAtangwen Falls
  4. 329 kmNini Rivertributary
  5. 344 kmNougoua6,974 people
  6. 350 kmElubo23,952 people
  7. 350 kmNoé12,199 people
  8. 352 kmSaykro6,198 people
  9. 394 kmUnvaiye Lagoon3.4 km²
  10. 400 kmGulf of Guineaat -1 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Ghana

At the mouth it carries 150 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 17 seconds. It drops from 327 m to -1 m, 0.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 16,250 km², about the size of SZ. 1.4 million people live in it. Highest water: from June to July; lowest: from January to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

Tano River, month by month

Highest water: from June to July

Lowest water: from January to March. Best months to visit: from December to January and August.

63
27°25 mmJan
49
28°55 mmFeb
88
28°134 mmMar
130
28°147 mmApr
200
27°215 mmMay
290
26°282 mmJun
260
25°138 mmJul
190
25°68 mmAug
140
26°146 mmSep
170
26°194 mmOct
170
27°106 mmNov
120
27°48 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 49 m³/s in the lowest month to 290 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

Tano River: the basin in numbers

16,250 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 1.4millionpeople live in the basin
  • 86/km²people per km²
  • 196maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,520mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 26.2°Caverage air temperature
  • 28%protected areas

What covers the basin

  • 23% Forest
  • 14% Cropland
  • 1% 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.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Tano 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
  • 5mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Waterfalls (1)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Atangwen Fallskm 309

Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

Lakes and reservoirs (1)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Unvaiye Lagoonkm 4303.4km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (5)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Abima6.3 km away
  2. Adankawkaw15 km away
  3. Ampade4.8 km away
  4. Ajuasika9.9 km away
  5. Boyem9.8 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Tano River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Tano River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth17 km across

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

Tano River in pictures

The Tano River
Kwabena Kwabi · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (1)

Also: Nini River

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q472715) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesCascadyas, 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?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit