River
Semliki River
230 km from source to mouth · Uganda and DR Congo.
Uganda and DR CongoFlows into Lake Albert2nd longest in Uganda
In numbers
Length
230km
Average flow
240m³/s
Basin
34,993km²
Drop
299m
from 914 m to 615 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
230 km of river and 0 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmLake Edwardat 914 m
- 230 kmLake Albertat 615 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 236 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 11 seconds. It drops from 914 m to 615 m, 1.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 34,993 km², about the size of TW. 5.8 million people live in it. Highest water: May and from September to November. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- NtorokoA town on its banks
- Bunia Airport (BUX)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 65 km from the cityCar hire in KampalaDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe3 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From December to February and JuneThe best months to visit
Semliki River, month by month
Highest water: May and from September to November
Best months to visit: from December to February and June.
From about 200 m³/s in the lowest month to 290 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
Semliki River: the basin in numbers
34,993 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 5.8millionpeople live in the basin
- 168/km²people per km²
- 1,375maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,194mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 20.7°Caverage air temperature
- 39%protected areas
- 7.4%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 32% Forest
- 24% Cropland
- 11% Pasture
- 6% 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
Semliki River: what you find on the way
- 3Rapids
- 1Marinas
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Semliki 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.
4mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Mountains at the source (4)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mont Mokondone12 km away
- Mont Thamagata12 km away
- Mont Tshahoma9.4 km away
- Mont Katse12 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
In the same basin
Egypt6,650 km2,800 m³/sWhite Nile
Sudan2,620 km880 m³/sBlue NileSudan1,783 km1,500 m³/sKagera RiverUganda400 km350 m³/sSobat River
South Sudan306 km410 m³/sAtbarah RiverSudan1,120 km370 m³/sBahr el Ghazal RiverSouth Sudan716 km2.0 m³/sTekezé RiverSudan608 km140 m³/sMara River
Tanzania395 km18 m³/sValley of the QueensEgypt4,302 km2,600 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
Uganda177 km100 m³/s192 km awayKagera RiverUganda400 km350 m³/s283 km awayAkanyaru River
Rwanda212 km110 m³/s370 km awayRurubu RiverTanzania300 km100 m³/s406 km awayNyabarongo RiverRwanda300 km110 m³/s399 km awayNzoia River
Kenya334 km200 m³/s406 km awayMara RiverTanzania395 km18 m³/s492 km awayRuhwa RiverRwanda50 km6.0 m³/s471 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q205428) · 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?
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