River
Runde River
418 km from source to mouth · Zimbabwe.
ZimbabweFlows into Save River2nd longest in Zimbabwe
In numbers
Length
418km
Average flow
140m³/s
Basin
41,379km²
Drop
915m
from 1,077 m to 162 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
418 km of river and 4 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,077 m
- 131 kmNgezi River (Masvingo)tributary
- 259 kmTokwe Rivertributary
- 286 kmMutirikwe Rivertributary
- 331 kmChiredzi Rivertributary
- 418 kmSave Riverat 162 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Zimbabwe
At the mouth it carries 140 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 18 seconds. It drops from 1,077 m to 162 m, 2.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 41,379 km², about the size of CH. 1.4 million people live in it. Highest water: February; lowest: from July to October. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (49% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- ChiredziLargest city on its banks · 40,100 people
- From April to AugustThe best months to visit
Runde River, month by month
Highest water: February
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from April to August.
From about 11 m³/s in the lowest month to 560 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
Runde River: the basin in numbers
41,379 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.4millionpeople live in the basin
- 33/km²people per km²
- 857maverage altitude of the basin
- 645mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 20.4°Caverage air temperature
- 13%protected areas
- 0.4%covered by lakes
- 2.2km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 49% Forest
- 10% Cropland
- 47% 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
Runde River: what you find on the way
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Runde 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.
6mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Mountains at the source (6)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mabweshoko13 km away
- Sifundula11 km away
- Rubgwechena13 km away
- Wida12 km away
- Selukwe Peak3.5 km away
- Bokai6.0 km away
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.
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Save River
Mozambique400 km910 m³/sTributaries (4)
Also: Mutirikwe River, Chiredzi River, Ngezi River (Masvingo), Tokwe River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Zimbabwe1,010 km140 m³/s175 km awayPungwe RiverMozambique400 km320 m³/s290 km awayBuzi RiverMozambique250 km79 m³/s290 km awayOlifants River (Limpopo)
South Africa560 km110 m³/s313 km awayShashe RiverZimbabwe300 km21 m³/s329 km awayLimpopo RiverMozambique1,750 km170 m³/s444 km awayKomati RiverMozambique480 km110 m³/s497 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q270986) · 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