River
Bafing River
500 km from source to mouth · Mali and Guinea.
Mali and GuineaFlows into Senegal River1st longest in Mali
In numbers
Length
500km
Average flow
370m³/s
Basin
33,000km²
Drop
548m
from 641 m to 93 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
500 km of river and 4 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 641 m
- 380 kmLake Manantali438 km²
- 401 kmChutes de Samano
- 403 kmChutes de Massakoukoto
- 485 kmBafoulabé26,823 people
- 500 kmSenegal Riverat 93 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Guinea and Mali
At the mouth it carries 374 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 6.7 seconds. It drops from 641 m to 93 m, 1.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 33,000 km², about the size of MD. 2.3 million people live in it. Highest water: from September to October; lowest: from February to May. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 96% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- BafoulabéLargest city on its banks · 26,823 people
- Kayes Dag Dag Airport (KYS)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 97 km from the city
- On the water5 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From November to JanuaryThe best months to visit
Bafing River, month by month
Highest water: from September to October
Lowest water: from February to May. Best months to visit: from November to January.
From about 60 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,200 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
Bafing River: the basin in numbers
141,174 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 2.3millionpeople live in the basin
- 16/km²people per km²
- 368maverage altitude of the basin
- 910mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 27.0°Caverage air temperature
- 4%protected areas
- 0.3%covered by lakes
- 11km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 8% Forest
- 7% Cropland
- 34% Pasture
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
Bafing River: what you find on the way
- 3Waterfalls
- 5Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Bafing 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.
2waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
1lake on its wayLakeyas
Waterfalls (2)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Chutes de Samanokm 562
- Chutes de Massakoukotokm 565
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Manantalikm 532438km²
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
Bafing River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Senegal River
Senegal1,050 km640 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
Mali400 km370 m³/s0 km awayKarakoro River
Mauritania697 km165 km awayFalémé RiverMauritania400 km480 m³/s188 km awaySankarani RiverMali400 km260 m³/s339 km awayTinkisso RiverGuinea268 km180 m³/s329 km awayMilo RiverGuinea330 km190 m³/s353 km awayGorgol RiverMauritania258 km66 m³/s384 km awayCorubal River
Guinea-Bissau560 km300 m³/s490 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q180558) · 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 | Cascadyas, 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?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit