[2][3] The source of the Bakoy is at an elevation of 760 m in the granite Monts Ménien to the northwest of Siguiri in Guinea.

The river flows north and forms part of the international border between Guinea and Mali.

It then meanders across the Manding Plateau and joins its principal affluent, the Baloué, which rises to the west of Bamako.

For the exceptionally dry year of 1972, the average flow at the Oualia gauging station, 54 km upstream of Bafoulabé, was only 30 m3/s while in 1958 the value was 260 m3/s.

[1] At Bafoulabé the average discharge of the Bakoy is between a third and a half of that of the Bafing.