River
Cuyuni River
618 km from source to mouth · Guyana.
GuyanaFlows into Essequibo River3rd longest in Guyana
In numbers
Length
618km
Average flow
2,100m³/s
Basin
80,000km²
Drop
185m
from 186 m to 1 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
618 km of river and 16 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 186 m
- 156 kmYuruarí Rivertributary
- 156 kmEl Dorado16,100 people
- 237 kmWenamu Rivertributary
- 359 kmKanaima Fall
- 466 kmAkaiwong Fall
- 477 kmWaikuri Fall
- 560 kmArrawak Matope Fall
- 581 kmKamaria Fall
- 582 kmLittle Kamaria Fall
- 582 kmMatope Fall
- 582 kmAkawaia Fall
- 584 kmTuwarong Fall
- 584 kmArakabusa Mama Fall
- 585 kmKongler Mama Fall
- 585 kmAkaio Fall
- 601 kmBartica11,486 people
- 618 kmEssequibo Riverat 1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Guyana
At the mouth it carries 2,119 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.2 seconds. It drops from 186 m to 1 m, 0.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 80,000 km², about the size of CZ. 187,000 people live in it. Highest water: from July to August. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- El DoradoLargest city on its banks · 16,100 people
- Canaima Airport (CAJ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 145 km from the cityCar hire at GEO airport (Georgetown)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water3 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From January to MarchThe best months to visit
Cuyuni River, month by month
Highest water: from July to August
Best months to visit: from January to March.
From about 1,400 m³/s in the lowest month to 3,300 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
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Cuyuni River: the basin in numbers
85,112 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 187,000people live in the basin
- 2/km²people per km²
- 314maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,834mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 25.3°Caverage air temperature
- 31%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 83% Forest
- 1% Cropland
- 2% 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
Cuyuni River: what you find on the way
- 1WaterfallsMarshall Falls
- 3Ferry pierstapir, speedboat to Parika
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Cuyuni 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.
12waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
Waterfalls (12)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Kanaima Fallkm 372
- Akaiwong Fallkm 482
- Waikuri Fallkm 494
- Kamaria Fallkm 602
- Little Kamaria Fallkm 604
- Matope Fallkm 604
- Tuwarong Fallkm 605
- Kongler Mama Fallkm 606
4 more on CascadyasCascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
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
Cuyuni River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Essequibo RiverGuyana1,014 km2,100 m³/sTributaries (2)
Also: Yuruarí River, Wenamu River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Guyana350 km290 m³/s63 km awayBerbice RiverGuyana595 km370 m³/s122 km awayCourantyne RiverGuyana724 km580 m³/s179 km awayOrinoco River
Venezuela2,140 km30,000 m³/s354 km awayCoppename River
Suriname400 km550 m³/s305 km awaySaramacca RiverSuriname255 km280 m³/s306 km awaySuriname RiverSuriname480 km440 m³/s394 km awayCaroní RiverVenezuela765 km4,800 m³/s500 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1146770) · 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 | Cascadyas — 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?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit