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River

Zio River

179 km from source to mouth · Togo.

TogoTogoFlows into Lake Togo

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

179km

Average flow

34m³/s

Basin

2,969km²

Drop

225m

from 224 m to -1 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

179 km of river and 0 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

224 m-1 m
Sourceat 224 m0 km
Lake Togoat -1 m179 km
050100150179 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 224 m
  2. 179 kmLake Togoat -1 m

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

River in Togo

At the mouth it carries 34 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 73 seconds. It drops from 224 m to -1 m, 1.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 2,969 km², about the size of LU. 935,000 people live in it. Highest water: June; lowest: from December to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Where to start

Zio River, month by month

Highest water: June

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

5.3
27°17 mmJan
8.5
28°44 mmFeb
18
28°84 mmMar
32
28°122 mmApr
48
27°155 mmMay
66
26°190 mmJun
43
25°81 mmJul
22
25°47 mmAug
25
26°99 mmSep
32
26°110 mmOct
20
27°40 mmNov
9.3
27°14 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 5.3 m³/s in the lowest month to 66 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

Car hire at LFW airport (Lomé)Discover CarsSee 

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

Zio River: the basin in numbers

2,969 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.
  • 935,000people live in the basin
  • 315/km²people per km²
  • 161maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,184mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 26.4°Caverage air temperature
  • 6%protected areas
  • 0.6%covered by lakes

What covers the basin

  • 38% Forest
  • 45% Cropland
  • 9% Pasture
  • 9% 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

Zio River: what you find on the way

  • 1Weirs

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Zio 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.

  • 6mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Mountains at the source (6)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Mont Tobadia10 km away
  2. Mont Mélindo6.7 km away
  3. Mont Kouakopéto13 km away
  4. Mont Akotsou11 km away
  5. Mont Ahatzé14 km away
  6. Mont Adekpé9.5 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Zio River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Zio River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth10 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

Zio River in pictures

Agriculture in inland valleys in Togo - panoramio (1)
Africa Rice Center · CC BY-SA 3.0

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Mono RiverBeninBenin467 km54 m³/s44 km awayVolta RiverGhanaGhana1,500 km1,300 m³/s101 km awayOuémé RiverBeninBenin480 km170 m³/s110 km awayOti RiverGhanaGhana900 km430 m³/s270 km awayWhite VoltaGhanaGhana640 km250 m³/s379 km awayBlack VoltaGhanaGhana1,352 km260 m³/s379 km awayKawaTogoTogo72 km46 m³/s379 km awayTano RiverIvory CoastIvory Coast400 km150 m³/s499 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q59851415) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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 atlasesPeakyas — 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