River
Ogooué River
850 km from source to mouth · Gabon and Republic of the Congo.
Gabon and Republic of the CongoFlows into Gulf of Guinea1st longest in Gabon
In numbers
Length
850km
Average flow
4,800m³/s
Basin
222,700km²
Drop
460m
from 460 m to 0 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
850 km of river and 23 stops on the way: 5 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 460 m
- 47 kmChute de Poubara
- 69 kmFranceville110,568 people
- 109 kmchutes Ndoli-Mayela
- 212 kmchute de Doumé
- 239 kmLastoursville14,411 people
- 364 kmIvindo Rivertributary
- 405 kmChutes de Rooue
- 549 kmNdjolé8,265 people
- 560 kmOyam30,100 people
- 575 kmLac Menguègn1.6 km²
- 578 kmLac Ayèm5.2 km²
- 639 kmLac Zilé8.0 km²
- 643 kmLambaréné46,605 people
- 651 kmLac Avengo0.7 km²
- 660 kmLac Kébanda1.9 km²
- 669 kmLac Ouombolia0.8 km²
- 677 kmLac Onangué249 km²
- 680 kmLac Nkénié0.8 km²
- 682 kmLac Ouongué0.8 km²
- 694 kmLac Nyondjé d'Amont7.0 km²
- 702 kmLac Nyondjé d'Aval2.3 km²
- 716 kmLac Avanga27 km²
- 741 kmLac Mandjé13 km²
- 850 kmGulf of Guineaat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Gabon
At the mouth it carries 4,805 m³/s on average: 1.9 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 460 m to 0 m, 0.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 222,700 km², about the size of GY. 868,000 people live in it. Highest water: from December to January; lowest: from August to September. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- FrancevilleLargest city on its banks · 110,568 people
- M'Vengue El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba International Airport (MVB)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 16 km from the cityCar hire at LBV airport (Libreville)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water16 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe4 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Ogooué River, month by month
Highest water: from December to January
Lowest water: from August to September. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 1,600 m³/s in the lowest month to 7,600 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
Ogooué River: the basin in numbers
215,217 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 868,000people live in the basin
- 4/km²people per km²
- 448maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,794mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 24.3°Caverage air temperature
- 11%protected areas
- 0.3%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 89% Forest
- 1% Cropland
- 2% 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
Ogooué River: what you find on the way
- 1Weirs
- 5WaterfallsChute de Poubara, Chutes de Leboka, Rapides Obongo and 2 more
- 4RapidsRapides de Massoukou, Rapides de Vuku and 2 more
- 5Boat rampsBoats to Port Gentil and 4 more
- 11Ferry piersFerry to Makouké and 10 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.6 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Ogooué 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.
4waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
13lakes on its wayLakeyas
Waterfalls (4)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Chute de Poubarakm 48
- chutes Ndoli-Mayelakm 112
- chute de Doumékm 220
- Chutes de Roouekm 419
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (13)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lac Ayèmkm 5985.2km²
- Lac Zilékm 6618.0km²
- Lac Kébandakm 6831.9km²
- Lac Onanguékm 700249km²
- Lac Nyondjé d'Amontkm 7187.0km²
- Lac Nyondjé d'Avalkm 7262.3km²
- Lac Avangakm 74127km²
- Lac Mandjékm 76613km²
5 more on LakeyasLakeyas 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
Ogooué River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (4)
Also: Ngounie River, Lolo River, Wagny River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Gabon600 km610 m³/s268 km awayUtamboni River
Equatorial Guinea141 km340 m³/s244 km awayBenito RiverEquatorial Guinea365 km510 m³/s298 km awayIvindo RiverGabon500 km780 m³/s374 km awayCampo RiverEquatorial Guinea460 km720 m³/s386 km awayNyong River
Cameroon640 km450 m³/s487 km awayKouilou-Niari RiverRepublic of the Congo560 km860 m³/s495 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q750021) · 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 | Cascadyas, Lakeyas — 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
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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 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit