River
Save River
400 km from source to mouth · Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
Mozambique and ZimbabweFlows into Indian Ocean5th longest in Mozambique
In numbers
Length
400km
Average flow
910m³/s
Basin
106,420km²
Drop
369m
from 369 m to 0 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
400 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 369 m
- 55 kmRunde Rivertributary
- 275 kmLago Nhavene0.8 km²
- 278 kmLago Nhalipangue0.8 km²
- 361 kmLago Zimbirre0.7 km²
- 400 kmIndian Oceanat 0 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 908 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.8 seconds. It drops from 369 m to 0 m, 0.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 106,420 km², about the size of GT. 3.4 million people live in it. Highest water: from February to March; lowest: from July to October. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (18% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- Nova MamboneLargest city on its banks · 2,482 people
- Vilankulo Airport (VNX)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 118 km from the cityCar hire at BEW airport (Beira)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Save River, month by month
Highest water: from February to March
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 33 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,600 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
Save River: the basin in numbers
102,590 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 3.4millionpeople live in the basin
- 33/km²people per km²
- 812maverage altitude of the basin
- 683mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 20.5°Caverage air temperature
- 16%protected areas
- 0.3%covered by lakes
- 2.5km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 47% Forest
- 9% Cropland
- 45% 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
Save River: what you find on the way
- 1WaterfallsChivilila Falls
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Save 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.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lago Nhavenekm 2840.8km²
- Lago Nhalipanguekm 2860.8km²
- Lago Zimbirrekm 3720.7km²
Lakeyas 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
Save River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Mozambique400 km320 m³/s121 km awayBuzi RiverMozambique250 km79 m³/s121 km awayZambezi RiverMozambique2,574 km7,000 m³/s288 km awayRunde RiverZimbabwe418 km140 m³/s278 km awayShire RiverMozambique402 km600 m³/s361 km awayOlifants River (Limpopo)
South Africa560 km110 m³/s432 km awayLimpopo RiverMozambique1,750 km170 m³/s497 km awayBubye RiverZimbabwe1,010 km140 m³/s435 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q293988) · 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 | 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
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