Sakmara River is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 that drains the southern tip of the Ural Mountains south into the Ural River. Its length is 760 kilometres (472.2 mi). It is a tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the Ural River

Ural River

The Ural or Jayıq/Zhayyq , known as Yaik before 1775, is a river flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan. It arises in the southern Ural Mountains and ends at the Caspian Sea. Its total length is 1,511 mi making it the third longest river in Europe after the Volga and the Danube...

, which it meets in Orenburg

Orenburg

Orenburg is a city on the Ural River and the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies southeast of Moscow, very close to the border with Kazakhstan. Population: 546,987 ; 549,361 ; Highest point: 154.4 m...

. The source of the Sakmara River is in the Republic of Bashkortostan. Other towns along the Sakmara are Yuldybayevo (Bashkortostan), Kuvandyk

Kuvandyk

Kuvandyk is a town in Orenburg Oblast, Russia, located on the Sakmara River at the point where that river turns from south to west and leaves the mountains, at the southern end of the Ural Mountains, east of Orenburg. Population:...

, and Saraktash (Orenburg Oblast).

It rises in the southern Ural Mountains

Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...

 about 60km west-southwest of Magnitogorsk

Magnitogorsk

Magnitogorsk is a mining and industrial city in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located on the eastern side of the extreme southern extent of the Ural Mountains by the Ural River. Population: 418,545 ;...

 and flows south through a valley with some canyon development. At Kuvandyk it swings west, leaves the mountains and flows west parallel to the Ural River with many meanders for about 150 kilometres (93.2 mi) (straight line distance) before turning south to meet the Ural at Orenburg. Major tributaries are the Salymysh River and the Bolshoy Ik River

Bolshoy Ik River

The Bolshoy Ik River is a tributary of the Sakmara River which flows south from the southern end of the Ural Mountains and is located in Bashkortostan and Orenburg Oblast, Russia.The river has generally snow feeding.- References :...

, both from the north.