River
Arauca River
900 km from source to mouth · Venezuela and Colombia.
Venezuela and ColombiaFlows into Orinoco River3rd longest in Venezuela
In numbers
Length
900km
Average flow
800m³/s
Basin
25,000km²
Drop
3,093m
from 3,123 m to 30 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
900 km of river and 13 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 3,123 m
- 202 kmArauquita41,309 people
- 226 kmLaguna del Lipa0.6 km²
- 252 kmLaguna La Yuca0.8 km²
- 295 kmArauca96,814 people
- 298 kmJosé Antonio Páez International Bridge
- 456 kmElorza26,800 people
- 729 kmLaguna Tocorón2.3 km²
- 796 kmLaguna La Pereña0.8 km²
- 819 kmLaguna La Vicentera6.7 km²
- 827 kmLaguna Boca de Tigre1.2 km²
- 828 kmLaguna El Encanto1.2 km²
- 845 kmLaguna Tranquera1.1 km²
- 853 kmLaguna Samanote1.4 km²
- 900 kmOrinoco Riverat 30 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River between Colombia and Venezuela
At the mouth it carries 800 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 3.1 seconds. It drops from 3,123 m to 30 m, 3.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 25,000 km², about the size of MK. 347,000 people live in it. Highest water: from July to August; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- AraucaLargest city on its banks · 96,814 people
- Santiago Perez Airport (AUC)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 4 km from the city
- On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From December to FebruaryThe best months to visit
Arauca River, month by month
Highest water: from July to August
Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from December to February.
From about 390 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,400 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
Arauca River: the basin in numbers
29,503 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 347,000people live in the basin
- 12/km²people per km²
- 646maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,961mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 23.9°Caverage air temperature
- 26%protected areas
- 0.3%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 23% Forest
- 3% Cropland
- 36% Pasture
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
Arauca River: what you find on the way
- 1Ferry piersPaso de Chalanas
- 1River beachesEl Samuro (Playón)
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Arauca 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.
9lakes on its wayLakeyas
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (9)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Laguna La Yucakm 2480.8km²
- Laguna Tocorónkm 7182.3km²
- Laguna La Pereñakm 7840.8km²
- Laguna La Vicenterakm 8066.7km²
- Laguna Boca de Tigrekm 8141.2km²
- Laguna El Encantokm 8151.2km²
- Laguna Tranquerakm 8321.1km²
- Laguna Samanotekm 8401.4km²
1 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cordillera del Cornal10 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.
Photos
Arauca River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Orinoco RiverVenezuela2,140 km30,000 m³/sTributaries (1)
Also: Río Margua
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1059928) · 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 | 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
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