River
Ishim
2,450 km from source to mouth · Russia and Kazakhstan.
Russia and KazakhstanFlows into Irtysh9th longest in Russia
In numbers
Length
2,450km
Average flow
56m³/s
Basin
177,000km²
Drop
491m
from 531 m to 40 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
2,450 km of river and 34 stops on the way: 5 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmKazakh Uplandsat 531 m
- 215 kmLion bridge
- 217 kmArkar bridge
- 220 kmAstana1,544,142 people
- 220 kmRamstore Bridge
- 221 kmSeruen Bridge
- 227 kmBol'shoy Taldykol'11 km²
- 535 kmZhabaytributary
- 586 kmZhaman-Kayraktytributary
- 700 kmTerisaqqan Rivertributary
- 799 kmDerzhavinsk13,856 people
- 1,133 kmAkkanburlyktributary
- 1,315 kmImanburlyqtributary
- 1,349 kmSergeyev Dam97 km²
- 1,351 kmSergeyevka8,845 people
- 1,537 kmOzero Kholodnoye0.7 km²
- 1,627 kmOzero Baykal (lanaw nga asin sa Kasahistan)1.3 km²
- 1,647 kmOzero Zabochnoye0.8 km²
- 1,711 kmOzero Ploskoye (lanaw sa Rusya, Tyumenskaya Oblast', lat 55,38, long 69,33)1.1 km²
- 1,714 kmOzero Gusinoye1.6 km²
- 1,774 kmAlabugatributary
- 1,780 kmOzero Stëganek1.1 km²
- 1,790 kmChenchertributary
- 1,843 kmIshim67,762 people
- 1,867 kmKarasultributary
- 1,915 kmMyslitributary
- 1,930 kmBalairtributary
- 1,961 kmAbatskoye8,094 people
- 2,009 kmIrtributary
- 2,022 kmBlinikhatributary
- 2,073 kmBarsuktributary
- 2,087 kmSartamaktributary
- 2,134 kmTashairtributary
- 2,142 kmMaly Iktributary
- 2,216 kmBolshaya Tavatributary
- 2,450 kmIrtyshat 40 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Kazakhstan and Russia
At the mouth it carries 56 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 44 seconds. It drops from 531 m to 40 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 177,000 km², about the size of UY. 1.1 million people live in it. Highest water: from May to July; lowest: from December to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- AstanaLargest city on its banks · 1,544,142 people
- Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport (NQZ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 17 km from the cityCar hire at NQZ airport (Astana)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to AugustThe best months to visit
Ishim, month by month
Highest water: from May to July
Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to March. Best months to visit: from May to August.
From about 120 m³/s in the lowest month to 510 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
Ishim: the basin in numbers
139,340 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.1millionpeople live in the basin
- 8/km²people per km²
- 275maverage altitude of the basin
- 324mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 1.9°Caverage air temperature
- 3%protected areas
- 1.1%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 9% Forest
- 33% Cropland
- 32% 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
Ishim: what you find on the way
- 2Weirs
- 1Locks
- 1Waterfalls
- 2Ferry piers
- 7River beachesSky Beach Club and 6 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Ishim 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.
8lakes on its wayLakeyas
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (8)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Bol'shoy Taldykol'km 18211km²
- Sergeyev Damkm 1,08097km²
- Ozero Kholodnoyekm 1,2300.7km²
- Ozero Baykal (lanaw nga asin sa Kasahistan)km 1,3021.3km²
- Ozero Zabochnoyekm 1,3180.8km²
- Ozero Ploskoye (lanaw sa Rusya, Tyumenskaya Oblast', lat 55,38, long 69,33)km 1,3691.1km²
- Ozero Gusinoyekm 1,3721.6km²
- Ozero Stëganekkm 1,4251.1km²
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
Ishim in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
IrtyshTributaries (22)
Also: Terisaqqan River, Akkanburlyk, Imanburlyq, Kalkutan, Barsuk, Zhabay, Bolshaya Tava, Mysli, Karasul, Ir, Blinikha, Sartamak, Tashair, Chencher, Balair, Alabuga, Maly Ik, Churtanka, Dyatel, Lyaga, Zhaman-Kayrakty, Ik
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q191524) · 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
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.


