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River

Malagarasi River

475 km from source to mouth · Tanzania.

TanzaniaTanzaniaFlows into Lake Tanganyika5th longest in Tanzania

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

475km

Average flow

340m³/s

Basin

130,000km²

Drop

385m

from 1,152 m to 767 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

475 km of river and 2 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,152 m767 m
Sourceat 1,152 m0 km
Uvinza24,650 people365 km
Kikwete Bridge367 km
Lake Tanganyikaat 767 m475 km
0100200300400475 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 1,152 m
  2. 365 kmUvinza24,650 people
  3. 367 kmKikwete Bridge
  4. 475 kmLake Tanganyikaat 767 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River

At the mouth it carries 342 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 7.3 seconds. It drops from 1,152 m to 767 m, 0.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 130,000 km², about the size of NI. 5.5 million people live in it. Highest water: from March to April; lowest: from August to November. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • UvinzaLargest city on its banks · 24,650 people
  • Kalemie Airport (FMI)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 153 km from the cityCar hire at MWZ airport (Mwanza)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From June to OctoberThe best months to visit

Malagarasi River, month by month

Highest water: from March to April

Lowest water: from August to November. Best months to visit: from June to October.

520
22°130 mmJan
590
22°128 mmFeb
620
22°156 mmMar
650
22°172 mmApr
560
22°46 mmMay
430
21°2 mmJun
290
21°0 mmJul
170
22°3 mmAug
150
24°14 mmSep
170
24°39 mmOct
280
23°126 mmNov
430
22°161 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 150 m³/s in the lowest month to 650 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

Malagarasi River: the basin in numbers

128,458 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 5.5millionpeople live in the basin
  • 43/km²people per km²
  • 1,194maverage altitude of the basin
  • 976mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 22.5°Caverage air temperature
  • 49%protected areas
  • 0.4%covered by lakes

What covers the basin

  • 36% Forest
  • 8% Cropland
  • 43% Pasture
  • 1% 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

Malagarasi River: what you find on the way

  • 2Ferry piers

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Malagarasi River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Malagarasi River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth49 km across

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

Malagarasi River in pictures

Malagarasi River in Mganza Ward
Halidtz · CC BY-SA 4.0

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1514693) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons

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.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit