River
Vakhsh River
524 km from source to mouth · Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Tajikistan and KyrgyzstanFlows into Amu Darya3rd longest in Tajikistan
In numbers
Length
524km
Average flow
160m³/s
Basin
39,100km²
Drop
1,522m
from 1,840 m to 318 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
524 km of river and 18 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,840 m
- 5 kmMuksu Rivertributary
- 5 kmKyzylsu Rivertributary
- 116 kmRasht10,771 people
- 139 kmNovobod5,352 people
- 162 kmKhingabtributary
- 182 kmRoghun7,731 people
- 197 kmRogun Dam
- 271 kmNurek Reservoir62 km²
- 272 kmNorak Dam
- 276 kmNorak18,122 people
- 304 kmBaipaza Dam
- 344 kmSangtuda 2 Hydroelectric Power Plant
- 357 kmSarband reservoir2.7 km²
- 380 kmBokhtariyon7,900 people
- 425 kmMoskovskiy22,100 people
- 441 kmJilikŭl5,434 people
- 462 kmOzero Bazovskoye0.3 km²
- 463 kmOzero Balabanovo0.4 km²
- 524 kmAmu Daryaat 318 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Major river of Kyrgyzstan & Tajikistan in Central Asia, a tributary of the Amu Darya
At the mouth it carries 156 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 16 seconds. It drops from 1,840 m to 318 m, 2.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 39,100 km², about the size of CH. 1.8 million people live in it. Highest water: from March to April; lowest: from July to October. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (47% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- MoskovskiyLargest city on its banks · 22,100 people
- Bokhtar International Airport (KQT)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 38 km from the cityCar hire in SamarkandDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to OctoberThe best months to visit
Vakhsh River, month by month
Highest water: from March to April
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from June to October.
From about 98 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,100 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
Vakhsh River: the basin in numbers
38,707 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.8millionpeople live in the basin
- 48/km²people per km²
- 2,887maverage altitude of the basin
- 658mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 2.5°Caverage air temperature
- 20%protected areas
- 0.2%covered by lakes
- 5%glaciers
- 26%permafrost
- 11km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 1% Forest
- 10% Cropland
- 22% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
- 5% Ice
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
Vakhsh River: what you find on the way
- 2Weirs
- 4Locks
- 4Waterfalls
- 1Boat ramps
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Vakhsh 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.
4lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (4)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Nurek Reservoirkm 26162km²
- Sarband reservoirkm 3432.7km²
- Ozero Bazovskoyekm 4440.3km²
- Ozero Balabanovokm 4450.4km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
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
Vakhsh River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Amu Darya
Uzbekistan2,620 km1,400 m³/sTributaries (3)
Also: Muksu River, Kyzylsu River, Khingab
In the same basin
Tajikistan921 km1,000 m³/sZeravshanUzbekistan877 km160 m³/sBartang RiverTajikistan528 km130 m³/sKokcha River
Afghanistan360 km180 m³/sQashqadaryo RiverUzbekistan378 km25 m³/sSurxondaryoUzbekistan175 km66 m³/sKofarnihon RiverTajikistan387 km160 m³/sGunt RiverTajikistan296 km100 m³/sPamir RiverAfghanistan118 km13 m³/sKunduz RiverAfghanistan420 km160 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
Tajikistan921 km1,000 m³/s0 km awayKunduz RiverAfghanistan420 km160 m³/s14 km awayKofarnihon RiverTajikistan387 km160 m³/s34 km awaySurxondaryoUzbekistan175 km66 m³/s91 km awayKokcha RiverAfghanistan360 km180 m³/s95 km awayBartang RiverTajikistan528 km130 m³/s301 km awayGunt RiverTajikistan296 km100 m³/s286 km awayKunar RiverAfghanistan480 km370 m³/s361 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q8526) · 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 | Lakeyas — 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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