River
Beni River
1,100 km from source to mouth · Bolivia.
BoliviaFlows into Madeira River2nd longest in Bolivia
In numbers
Length
1,100km
Average flow
8.9m³/s
Basin
850,000km²
Drop
80m
from 183 m to 103 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
1,100 km of river and 6 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 183 m
- 655 kmCosta Marques12,627 people
- 992 kmGuayaramerín36,008 people
- 996 kmGuajará Mirim46,556 people
- 1,019 kmCachoeira das Bananeiras
- 1,037 kmCachoeira Pau Grande
- 1,041 kmCachoeira Lajes
- 1,100 kmMadeira Riverat 103 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Bolivia
At the mouth it carries 8.9 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 281 seconds. It drops from 183 m to 103 m, 0.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 850,000 km², about the size of NA. 7.3 million people live in it. Highest water: from February to March; lowest: from July to October. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- Guajará MirimLargest city on its banks · 46,556 people
- Guayaramerín Airport (GYA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 13 km from the cityCar hire at PVH airport (Porto Velho)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water16 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to AugustThe best months to visit
Beni River, month by month
Highest water: from February to March
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from May to August.
From about 6,000 m³/s in the lowest month to 36,000 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
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
Beni River: the basin in numbers
919,833 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 7.3millionpeople live in the basin
- 8/km²people per km²
- 669maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,591mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 23.3°Caverage air temperature
- 26%protected areas
- 0.6%covered by lakes
- 0.2km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 67% Forest
- 2% Cropland
- 28% 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
Beni River: what you find on the way
- 1WaterfallsCachoeira Guajará-Açu
- 13Ferry piersPuerto Villazón, Costa Marques, Forte Príncipe da Beira and 10 more
- 3Marinas
- 1River beachesLimoeiro - Berçário de Tartarugas
From OpenStreetMap, within 3.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Beni 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
- Cachoeira das Bananeiraskm 1,052
- Cachoeira Pau Grandekm 1,071
- Cachoeira Lajeskm 1,075
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.
Photos
Beni River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Madeira River
Brazil1,450 km31,200 m³/sTributaries (7)
Also: Tuichi River, Madidi River, Kaka River, Quiquibey River, Orthon River, Alto Beni river
In the same basin
Brazil6,400 km209,000 m³/sRio NegroBrazil2,250 km30,000 m³/sMarañón River
Peru1,737 km16,700 m³/sUcayali RiverPeru1,460 km12,600 m³/sJapurá RiverBrazil2,820 km13,900 m³/sXingu RiverBrazil1,640 km9,700 m³/sMamoré RiverBrazil1,930 km11,600 m³/sJuruá RiverBrazil3,100 km4,800 m³/sTapajós RiverBrazil1,930 km13,000 m³/sPutumayo RiverBrazil1,610 km7,000 m³/sWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q142604) · 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?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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