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River

Maputo River

300 km from source to mouth · Mozambique, Eswatini and South Africa.

MozambiqueEswatiniSouth AfricaMozambique, Eswatini and South AfricaFlows into Indian Ocean7th longest in Mozambique

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

300km

Average flow

110m³/s

Basin

29,790km²

Drop

343m

from 344 m to 1 m

Countries

3

The journey

From source to mouth

300 km of river and 14 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

344 m1 m
Sourceat 344 m0 km
Pongolapoort Reservoir129 km²126 km
Khumaleni0.6 km²182 km
Khangazeni1.0 km²185 km
Lagoa Cheguefula0.5 km²228 km
Lagoa Mandjene12 km²229 km
Indian Oceanat 1 m300 km
0100200300 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 344 m
  2. 126 kmPongolapoort Reservoir129 km²
  3. 182 kmKhumaleni0.6 km²
  4. 185 kmKhangazeni1.0 km²
  5. 189 kmSivunguvungu1.4 km²
  6. 190 kmShalala0.7 km²
  7. 194 kmSokhunti1.1 km²
  8. 195 kmNhlole0.7 km²
  9. 200 kmMandlankunzi2.0 km²
  10. 220 kmPongola Rivertributary
  11. 228 kmLagoa Cheguefula0.5 km²
  12. 229 kmLagoa Mandjene12 km²
  13. 234 kmLagoa Machane3.8 km²
  14. 237 kmLagoa Chifume0.3 km²
  15. 299 kmBela Vista3,006 people
  16. 300 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 South Africa, Eswatini, and Mozambique

At the mouth it carries 112 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 22 seconds. It drops from 344 m to 1 m, 1.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 29,790 km², about the size of AM. 1.5 million people live in it. Highest water: from January to March; lowest: from June to September. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 94% of a year's flow.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • Bela VistaLargest city on its banks · 3,006 people
  • Maputo Airport (MPM)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 48 km from the cityCar hire at MPM airport (Maputo)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Maputo River, month by month

Highest water: from January to March

Lowest water: from June to September. Best months to visit: from May to September.

230
26°110 mmJan
240
26°94 mmFeb
220
25°69 mmMar
150
23°48 mmApr
83
20°23 mmMay
41
18°15 mmJun
21
17°17 mmJul
18
19°18 mmAug
34
21°35 mmSep
83
22°66 mmOct
140
23°83 mmNov
190
25°88 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 18 m³/s in the lowest month to 240 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

Car hire at MPM airport (Maputo)Discover CarsSee 

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

Maputo River: the basin in numbers

30,280 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

DammedReservoirs can hold 94% of a year's flow: much of the river is a chain of lakes.
  • 1.5millionpeople live in the basin
  • 50/km²people per km²
  • 873maverage altitude of the basin
  • 821mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 18.4°Caverage air temperature
  • 6%protected areas
  • 1.0%covered by lakes
  • 3.3km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 84% Forest
  • 14% Cropland
  • 57% 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

Maputo River: what you find on the way

  • 7DamsJozini Dam and 6 more
  • 2Weirs
  • 2Boat ramps

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Maputo 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.

  • 12lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 2mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (12)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Pongolapoort Reservoirkm 127129km²
  2. Khangazenikm 1861.0km²
  3. Sivunguvungukm 1901.4km²
  4. Shalalakm 1920.7km²
  5. Sokhuntikm 1951.1km²
  6. Mandlankunzikm 2022.0km²
  7. Lagoa Mandjenekm 23112km²
  8. Lagoa Machanekm 2353.8km²

4 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (2)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Red Cliff14 km away
  2. Ndumu9.8 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Maputo River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Maputo River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth24 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

Maputo River in pictures

Maputo river
F H Mira · CC BY-SA 2.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (1)

Also: Pongola River

In the same basin

Mbabane RiverEswatiniEswatini73 km7.4 m³/sMzimene RiverEswatiniEswatini191 km51 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Komati RiverMozambiqueMozambique480 km110 m³/s65 km awayLimpopo RiverMozambiqueMozambique1,750 km170 m³/s155 km awayMbabane RiverEswatiniEswatini73 km7.4 m³/s145 km awayMzimene RiverEswatiniEswatini191 km51 m³/s130 km awayOlifants River (Limpopo)South AfricaSouth Africa560 km110 m³/s248 km awayTugela RiverSouth AfricaSouth Africa520 km170 m³/s340 km awayBubye RiverZimbabweZimbabwe1,010 km140 m³/s473 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q2452912) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth 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
Our other atlasesLakeyas, 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.

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