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River

Vaupés River

1,050 km from source to mouth · Brazil and Colombia.

BrazilColombiaBrazil and ColombiaFlows into Rio Negro

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

1,050km

Average flow

4,300m³/s

Basin

64,890km²

Drop

134m

from 203 m to 69 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

1,050 km of river and 11 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

203 m69 m
Sourceat 203 m0 km
Cachoeira Pacu544 km
Cachoeira Ponta de Bacaba547 km
Cachoeira Araripirá706 km
Cachoeira Pinupiraí827 km
Rio Negroat 69 m1,050 km
02505007501,050 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 203 m
  2. 456 kmMitú29,850 people
  3. 544 kmCachoeira Pacu
  4. 547 kmCachoeira Ponta de Bacaba
  5. 566 kmCachoeira Periquito
  6. 575 kmCachoeira Tiririca
  7. 607 kmCachoeira Matapi
  8. 616 kmRaudal Arara
  9. 618 kmRaudal Panapana
  10. 703 kmPapurí Rivertributary
  11. 706 kmCachoeira Araripirá
  12. 827 kmCachoeira Pinupiraí
  13. 1,050 kmRio Negroat 69 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

Tributary of the Rio Negro in South America.

At the mouth it carries 4,335 m³/s on average: 1.7 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 203 m to 69 m, 0.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 64,890 km², about the size of LV. 58,000 people live in it. Highest water: from May to August. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • MitúLargest city on its banks · 29,850 people
  • Fabio Alberto Leon Bentley Airport (MVP)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 0 km from the cityCar hire at BVB airport (Boa Vista)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water4 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe3 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Vaupés River, month by month

Highest water: from May to August

Best months to visit: from May to September.

3,100
26°181 mmJan
2,900
27°190 mmFeb
3,200
27°244 mmMar
4,200
26°332 mmApr
5,300
26°368 mmMay
5,900
25°341 mmJun
6,000
25°354 mmJul
5,400
25°283 mmAug
4,700
26°250 mmSep
4,100
26°250 mmOct
3,700
26°221 mmNov
3,500
26°218 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 2,900 m³/s in the lowest month to 6,000 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

Car hire at BVB airport (Boa Vista)Discover CarsSee 

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

Vaupés River: the basin in numbers

64,370 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 58,000people live in the basin
  • 1/km²people per km²
  • 183maverage altitude of the basin
  • 3,186mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 25.9°Caverage air temperature
  • 77%protected areas

What covers the basin

  • 95% Forest
  • 1% Cropland
  • 3% 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

Vaupés River: what you find on the way

  • 22WaterfallsRaudal Pucarón (Yuruparí), Raudal de Pucarón, Raudal and 19 more
  • 3Rapids
  • 1Boat ramps
  • 1Ferry piersPuerto Calvo
  • 2MarinasPuerto de la Gobernación, Guarda Fluvial
  • 1River beachesIsla Tocunare

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Vaupés 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.

  • 9waterfalls on the riverCascadyas

Waterfalls (9)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Cachoeira Ponta de Bacabakm 564
  2. Cachoeira Periquitokm 584
  3. Cachoeira Tiriricakm 593
  4. Cachoeira Matapikm 626
  5. Raudal Ararakm 636
  6. Raudal Panapanakm 637
  7. Cachoeira Araripirákm 729
  8. Cachoeira Pinupiraíkm 853

1 more on CascadyasCascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Vaupés River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Vaupés River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth35 km across

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

Vaupés River in pictures

Rio Vaupés a la altura de Mitú
Dairo · CC BY-SA 4.0
Atardecer en Mitú, río Vaupés - panoramio
CarlosE Duarte · CC BY 3.0
Gran rio vaupes
Juan Carlos Hoyos G · CC BY-SA 4.0
Navegando por el vaupes
Jukahogo · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Rio NegroBrazilBrazil2,250 km30,000 m³/s

Tributaries (2)

Also: Papurí River, Tiquié River

In the same basin

Amazon RiverBrazilBrazil6,400 km209,000 m³/sMadeira RiverBrazilBrazil1,450 km31,200 m³/sMarañón RiverPeruPeru1,737 km16,700 m³/sUcayali RiverPeruPeru1,460 km12,600 m³/sJapurá RiverBrazilBrazil2,820 km13,900 m³/sXingu RiverBrazilBrazil1,640 km9,700 m³/sMamoré RiverBrazilBrazil1,930 km11,600 m³/sJuruá RiverBrazilBrazil3,100 km4,800 m³/sTapajós RiverBrazilBrazil1,930 km13,000 m³/sPutumayo RiverBrazilBrazil1,610 km7,000 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Casiquiare canalVenezuelaVenezuela326 km2,400 m³/s219 km awayJuruá RiverBrazilBrazil3,100 km4,800 m³/s341 km awayPutumayo RiverBrazilBrazil1,610 km7,000 m³/s361 km awayJutai RiverBrazilBrazil1,200 km2,400 m³/s314 km awayJapurá RiverBrazilBrazil2,820 km13,900 m³/s453 km awayGuaviare RiverColombiaColombia1,497 km8,200 m³/s452 km awayVentuari RiverVenezuelaVenezuela520 km2,200 m³/s440 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q14290) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesCascadyas — 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.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit