River
Tshuapa River
1,300 km from source to mouth · DR Congo.
DR CongoFlows into River Congo4th longest in DR Congo
In numbers
Length
1,300km
Average flow
3,600m³/s
Basin
173,800km²
Drop
210m
from 513 m to 303 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
1,300 km of river and 2 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 513 m
- 804 kmBoende50,794 people
- 1,226 kmMbandaka455,011 people
- 1,300 kmRiver Congoat 303 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Democratic Republic of the Congo
At the mouth it carries 3,649 m³/s on average: 1.5 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 513 m to 303 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 173,800 km², about the size of UY. 1.2 million people live in it. Highest water: from November to December. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- MbandakaLargest city on its banks · 455,011 people
- Mbandaka Airport (MDK)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 4 km from the city
- On the water10 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- January and from June to JulyThe best months to visit
Tshuapa River, month by month
Highest water: from November to December
Best months to visit: January and from June to July.
From about 2,800 m³/s in the lowest month to 4,800 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
Tshuapa River: the basin in numbers
175,293 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.2millionpeople live in the basin
- 7/km²people per km²
- 420maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,943mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 24.8°Caverage air temperature
- 28%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 83% Forest
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
Tshuapa River: what you find on the way
- 10Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
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
It flows into
River Congo
Angola4,700 km41,800 m³/sIn the same basin
Republic of the Congo2,272 km12,000 m³/sUbangi River
Central African Republic1,060 km5,900 m³/sKwango RiverDR Congo1,770 km2,700 m³/sUeleDR Congo1,210 km1,500 m³/sLomami RiverDR Congo1,280 km3,000 m³/sSanghaRepublic of the Congo785 km2,500 m³/sEbola RiverDR Congo250 km320 m³/sMbomou RiverCentral African Republic800 km1,300 m³/sLuvua RiverDR Congo350 km600 m³/sSankuru RiverDR Congo1,200 km1,500 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
Central African Republic1,060 km5,900 m³/s91 km awayLulonga RiverDR Congo180 km1,800 m³/s64 km awaySanghaRepublic of the Congo785 km2,500 m³/s221 km awayDja RiverRepublic of the Congo523 km800 m³/s302 km awayLukenie RiverDR Congo1,014 km1,700 m³/s313 km awayKwango RiverDR Congo1,770 km2,700 m³/s395 km awayKasai RiverRepublic of the Congo2,272 km12,000 m³/s431 km awayKwilu RiverDR Congo965 km1,200 m³/s396 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2635327) · 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 |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
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