River
Sokoto River
600 km from source to mouth · Nigeria and Niger.
Nigeria and NigerFlows into Niger River4th longest in Nigeria
In numbers
Length
600km
Average flow
290m³/s
Basin
182,447km²
Drop
472m
from 622 m to 150 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
600 km of river and 11 stops on the way: 6 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 622 m
- 92 kmGusau226,857 people
- 125 kmMaru11,496 people
- 161 kmBakolori Reservoir44 km²
- 200 kmLake Natu1.7 km²
- 236 kmGandi13,940 people
- 266 kmRabah8,707 people
- 296 kmSokoto1,040,000 people
- 298 kmRima Rivertributary
- 393 kmArgungu45,584 people
- 503 kmZamfara Rivertributary
- 553 kmKa Rivertributary
- 600 kmNiger Riverat 150 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Nigeria and Niger
At the mouth it carries 294 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 8.5 seconds. It drops from 622 m to 150 m, 0.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 182,447 km², about the size of KH. 19.8 million people live in it. Highest water: September; lowest: from January to April. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (19% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- SokotoLargest city on its banks · 1,040,000 people
- Sadiq Abubakar III International Airport (SKO)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 17 km from the cityCar hire at ABV airport (Abuja)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From December to JanuaryThe best months to visit
Sokoto River, month by month
Highest water: September
Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from December to January.
From about 57 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,000 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
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The basin
Sokoto River: the basin in numbers
182,447 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 19.8millionpeople live in the basin
- 109/km²people per km²
- 406maverage altitude of the basin
- 537mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 27.4°Caverage air temperature
- 9%protected areas
- 0.2%covered by lakes
- 1.7km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 46% Cropland
- 27% Pasture
- 5% 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
Sokoto River: what you find on the way
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.6 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Sokoto 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.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Bakolori Reservoirkm 18244km²
- Lake Natukm 2271.7km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Dutsin Reme14 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
Niger RiverNigeria4,180 km8,600 m³/sTributaries (4)
Also: Rima River, Zamfara River, Ka River, Gaminda
In the same basin
Nigeria1,370 km3,200 m³/sBani River
Mali430 km510 m³/sSankarani RiverMali400 km260 m³/sKaduna RiverNigeria550 km640 m³/sMékrou RiverNiger410 km29 m³/sFaro RiverNigeria305 km360 m³/sTinkisso River
Guinea268 km180 m³/sGongola RiverNigeria531 km210 m³/sSota River
Benin250 km46 m³/sMilo RiverGuinea330 km190 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
Benin250 km46 m³/s94 km awayMékrou RiverNiger410 km29 m³/s187 km awayTapoa RiverNiger260 km8.9 m³/s217 km awayKaduna RiverNigeria550 km640 m³/s346 km awaySirba RiverNiger350 km780 m³/s373 km awaySingou
Burkina Faso311 km54 m³/s335 km awayBenue RiverNigeria1,370 km3,200 m³/s494 km awayKawa
Togo72 km46 m³/s397 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2092438) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth 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, 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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