Stream
Betsiboka River
600 km from source to mouth · Madagascar.
MadagascarFlows into Indian Ocean1st longest in Madagascar
In numbers
Length
600km
Average flow
1,600m³/s
Basin
49,000km²
Drop
1,150m
from 1,151 m to 1 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
600 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 1,151 m
- 364 kmBetsiboka Bridge
- 384 kmLac Amparihinandriana3.8 km²
- 406 kmIkopa Rivertributary
- 420 kmFarihy Kamotro14 km²
- 424 kmLac Bonga2.0 km²
- 437 kmFarihy Kapingo1.8 km²
- 465 kmAmbato Boeny35,432 people
- 600 kmIndian Oceanat 1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in central-north Madagascar
At the mouth it carries 1,621 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.5 seconds. It drops from 1,151 m to 1 m, 1.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 49,000 km², about the size of SK. 4.1 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
- Ambato BoenyLargest city on its banks · 35,432 people
- Amborovy Airport (MJN)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 97 km from the cityCar hire at TNR airport (Antananarivo)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water18 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Betsiboka River, month by month
Highest water: from February to March
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 220 m³/s in the lowest month to 5,100 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
Betsiboka River: the basin in numbers
56,180 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 4.1millionpeople live in the basin
- 74/km²people per km²
- 801maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,531mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 22.4°Caverage air temperature
- 1%protected areas
- 0.5%covered by lakes
- 0.5km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 6% Forest
- 6% Cropland
- 54% Pasture
- 2% 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
Betsiboka River: what you find on the way
- 1Waterfalls
- 18Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Betsiboka 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.
4lakes on its wayLakeyas
3mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (4)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lac Amparihinandrianakm 2823.8km²
- Farihy Kamotrokm 30814km²
- Lac Bongakm 3112.0km²
- Farihy Kapingokm 3201.8km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (3)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Antsahanatra13 km away
- Amperiferibe7.1 km away
- Abohimataza8.9 km away
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
Betsiboka River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
Also: Ikopa River
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q425) · 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 | Lakeyas, Peakyas — 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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