India's most sacred river, worshipped as the goddess Ganga and central to the lives of hundreds of millions.
Length
2,525 km
Source
Gangotri Glacier, Himalayas
Mouth
Bay of Bengal (via the Sundarbans)
Continent
Asia
Countries
India & Bangladesh
Did you know?
The Ganges basin is the most populous river basin in the world, home to well over 400 million people.
Little-known fact
Ganges water has long been noted for staying fresh unusually long in storage — scientists link it to bacteriophages, viruses that kill bacteria.
Highlights
- India's most sacred river
- Most populous river basin on Earth
- Water famed for resisting spoilage
Life in the Ganges
The fish and animals, waterbirds and water plants — including some of the rarest — that this water supports.
Animals & fish
Eurasian otter
A sleek, playful hunter whose return to a river is a sign the water has run clean again.
Waterbirds
Sarus crane
The tallest flying bird on Earth; its lifelong pairs dance and call in duet across Asian wetlands.
Common kingfisher
A dazzling blue-and-orange dart that plunges from a perch to spear fish in an instant.
Grey heron
A patient, statue-still angler that stalks the shallows of rivers and lakes across the Old World.
Water plants & reeds
Sacred lotus
A revered Asian water plant whose leaves are so water-repellent that dirt rolls straight off them.
Mangrove
Salt-tolerant trees whose stilted roots build the nurseries of the great river deltas.
Interactive · 3D journey
Journey of a river · source → sea
Every river runs the same great journey — from an icy mountain spring, down through gorges and looping meanders, to a wide delta where it meets the sea. Tap a stage to follow the water downstream.
Tip: hover to tilt the valley · tap a stage to float downstream
The Source
Every river begins high up — in a mountain spring, a melting glacier or a boggy upland. The water is cold, clear and fast, tumbling down the steepest ground of its whole journey.
Landforms here