River
Aruwimi River
1,300 km from source to mouth · DR Congo.
DR CongoFlows into River Congo3rd longest in DR Congo
In numbers
Length
1,300km
Average flow
1,600m³/s
Basin
116,100km²
Drop
813m
from 1,174 m to 361 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
1,300 km of river and 7 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,174 m
- 184 kmSharitributary
- 305 kmChute Taky
- 482 kmEpulutributary
- 504 kmChute Penge
- 696 kmNepokotributary
- 1,001 kmChute Mupole
- 1,224 kmBasoko76,371 people
- 1,300 kmRiver Congoat 361 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
At the mouth it carries 1,592 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.6 seconds. It drops from 1,174 m to 361 m, 0.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 116,100 km², about the size of MW. 4.5 million people live in it. Highest water: from September to November. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- BasokoLargest city on its banks · 76,371 people
- Bangoka International Airport (FKI)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 209 km from the city
- On the water10 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From December to FebruaryThe best months to visit
Aruwimi River, month by month
Highest water: from September to November
Best months to visit: from December to February.
From about 510 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,900 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
Aruwimi River: the basin in numbers
121,163 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 4.5millionpeople live in the basin
- 37/km²people per km²
- 793maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,746mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 23.8°Caverage air temperature
- 12%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 87% Forest
- 1% Cropland
- 1% Pasture
- 1% 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
Aruwimi River: what you find on the way
- 1WaterfallsChutes Epulu
- 10Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Aruwimi 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.
3waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
Waterfalls (3)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Chute Takykm 275
- Chute Pengekm 454
- Chute Mupolekm 902
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
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/sTributaries (3)
Also: Nepoko, Epulu, Shari
In 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/sWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q540956) · 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 | Cascadyas — 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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