River
Kinabatangan River
560 km from source to mouth · Malaysia.
MalaysiaFlows into Sulu Sea1st longest in Malaysia
In numbers
Length
560km
Average flow
540m³/s
Basin
16,800km²
Drop
535m
from 535 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
560 km of river and 0 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 535 m
- 560 kmSulu Seaat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Malaysia
At the mouth it carries 544 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 4.6 seconds. It drops from 535 m to 0 m, 1.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 16,800 km², about the size of SZ. 193,000 people live in it. Highest water: from January to February. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- SandakanLargest city on its banks · 439,050 people
- Sandakan Airport (SDK)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 9 km from the cityCar hire in SandakanDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From December to AprilThe best months to visit
Kinabatangan River, month by month
Highest water: from January to February
Best months to visit: from December to April.
From about 370 m³/s in the lowest month to 930 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
Kinabatangan River: the basin in numbers
16,029 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 193,000people live in the basin
- 12/km²people per km²
- 289maverage altitude of the basin
- 2,553mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 25.6°Caverage air temperature
- 8%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 54% Forest
- 25% Cropland
- 1% 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
Kinabatangan River: what you find on the way
- 2Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Kinabatangan 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.
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mount Trus Madi9.9 km away2,642m
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
Kinabatangan River in pictures
BruneiWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1532371) · 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 | 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.
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