River
West Rapti River
600 km from source to mouth · India and Nepal.
India and NepalFlows into Ghaghara River
In numbers
Length
600km
Average flow
580m³/s
Basin
30,000km²
Drop
351m
from 414 m to 63 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
600 km of river and 10 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 414 m
- 10 kmJhimruk Kholatributary
- 245 kmIkauna14,217 people
- 378 kmBhagnaia Tāl0.3 km²
- 385 kmBānsi39,926 people
- 385 kmBagāha Tāl0.3 km²
- 420 kmBarui Tāl1.2 km²
- 454 kmKomar Tāl0.4 km²
- 457 kmDohar Tāl (lanaw nga anhianhi sa Indya, lat 26,87, long 83,24)0.5 km²
- 462 kmLikhia Tāl0.3 km²
- 508 kmRohni Rivertributary
- 600 kmGhaghara Riverat 63 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Nepal and India
At the mouth it carries 579 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 4.3 seconds. It drops from 414 m to 63 m, 0.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 30,000 km², about the size of AM. 15.8 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from January to February and from April to May. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- BānsiLargest city on its banks · 39,926 people
- Gautam Buddha International Airport (BWA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 59 km from the cityCar hire in KathmanduDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From November to MarchThe best months to visit
West Rapti River, month by month
Highest water: from August to September
Lowest water: from January to February and from April to May. Best months to visit: from November to March.
From about 48 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,000 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
West Rapti River: the basin in numbers
25,314 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 15.8millionpeople live in the basin
- 627/km²people per km²
- 390maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,407mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 23.2°Caverage air temperature
- 5%protected areas
- 0.2%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 27% Forest
- 56% Cropland
- 5% Pasture
- 11% 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
West Rapti River: what you find on the way
- 1Weirs
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
West Rapti 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.
6lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (6)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Bhagnaia Tālkm 3910.3km²
- Bagāha Tālkm 3980.3km²
- Barui Tālkm 4341.2km²
- Komar Tālkm 4690.4km²
- Dohar Tāl (lanaw nga anhianhi sa Indya, lat 26,87, long 83,24)km 4720.5km²
- Likhia Tālkm 4780.3km²
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
West Rapti River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Ghaghara RiverIndia1,080 km3,300 m³/sTributaries (2)
Also: Rohni River, Jhimruk Khola
In the same basin
India2,525 km12,000 m³/sBrahmaputra RiverIndia2,900 km19,500 m³/sYamunaIndia1,376 km3,500 m³/sPadma River
Bangladesh120 km32,000 m³/sGandaki RiverIndia630 km1,800 m³/sChambal RiverIndia960 km600 m³/sJamuna RiverBangladesh245 km20,100 m³/sTeesta RiverBangladesh470 km1,300 m³/sGomti RiverIndia900 km230 m³/sKosi RiverIndia729 km2,300 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
India900 km230 m³/s108 km awaySon RiverIndia780 km1,200 m³/s138 km awayGandaki RiverIndia630 km1,800 m³/s167 km awayYamunaIndia1,376 km3,500 m³/s203 km awayTrishuli RiverNepal163 km1,000 m³/s178 km awayMarshyangdiNepal150 km220 m³/s195 km awaySharda RiverIndia350 km2,300 m³/s255 km awayDudh KoshiNepal138 km180 m³/s290 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2869013) · 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 | 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
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