River
Wakhan River
220 km from source to mouth · Afghanistan.
AfghanistanFlows into Panj River6th longest in Afghanistan
In numbers
Length
220km
Average flow
16m³/s
Basin
4,837km²
Drop
1,567m
from 4,361 m to 2,794 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
220 km of river and 0 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmVrevsky glacierat 4,361 m
- 220 kmPanj Riverat 2,794 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Sarhad branch of the Panj River
At the mouth it carries 16 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 155 seconds. It drops from 4,361 m to 2,794 m, 7.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 4,837 km², about the size of TT. 7,106 people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: May; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- KhandūdLargest city on its banks · 5,521 people
- Chitral Airport (CJL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 127 km from the city
- From July to AugustThe best months to visit
Wakhan River, month by month
Highest water: May
Lowest water: from January to April. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to March. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from July to August.
From about 2.4 m³/s in the lowest month to 54 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
Wakhan River: the basin in numbers
4,837 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 7,106people live in the basin
- 2/km²people per km²
- 4,575maverage altitude of the basin
- 239mmof rain a year (basin average)
- -4.7°Caverage air temperature
- 5%protected areas
- 16%glaciers
- 63%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 3% Pasture
- 16% 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.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Wakhan 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.
2mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Mountains at the source (2)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Pāmīr-e Vakhān6.4 km away5,469m
- Udargasht Khānah-ye Chīsh13 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
Wakhan River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Panj River
Tajikistan921 km1,000 m³/sIn the same basin
Uzbekistan2,620 km1,400 m³/sVakhsh RiverTajikistan524 km160 m³/sZeravshanUzbekistan877 km160 m³/sBartang RiverTajikistan528 km130 m³/sKokcha RiverAfghanistan360 km180 m³/sQashqadaryo RiverUzbekistan378 km25 m³/sSurxondaryoUzbekistan175 km66 m³/sKofarnihon RiverTajikistan387 km160 m³/sGunt RiverTajikistan296 km100 m³/sPamir RiverAfghanistan118 km13 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
Afghanistan118 km13 m³/s0 km awayGunt RiverTajikistan296 km100 m³/s114 km awayBartang RiverTajikistan528 km130 m³/s140 km awayGilgit River
Pakistan263 km1,000 m³/s232 km awayKokcha RiverAfghanistan360 km180 m³/s291 km awayKabul RiverPakistan460 km1,200 m³/s350 km awayKunar RiverAfghanistan480 km370 m³/s348 km awayShyok RiverPakistan550 km130 m³/s353 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q8534) · 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 | 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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