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River

Caroní River

765 km from source to mouth · Venezuela.

VenezuelaVenezuelaFlows into Orinoco River4th longest in Venezuela

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

765km

Average flow

4,800m³/s

Basin

97,000km²

Drop

825m

from 832 m to 7 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

765 km of river and 10 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

832 m7 m
Yuruaní Riverat 832 m0 km
Aponwao Rivertributary75 km
Ikabaru Rivertributary192 km
Carrao Rivertributary430 km
Paragua Rivertributary523 km
Guri Reservoir3,661 km²640 km
Orinoco Riverat 7 m765 km
0200400600765 km
  1. 0 kmYuruaní Riverat 832 m
  2. 3 kmKukenán Rivertributary
  3. 75 kmAponwao Rivertributary
  4. 192 kmIkabaru Rivertributary
  5. 430 kmCarrao Rivertributary
  6. 523 kmParagua Rivertributary
  7. 640 kmGuri Reservoir3,661 km²
  8. 707 kmCaruachi Reservoir165 km²
  9. 728 kmMacagua Reservoir56 km²
  10. 733 kmLlovizna Falls
  11. 734 kmCiudad Guayana751,331 people
  12. 765 kmOrinoco Riverat 7 m

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

River in Venezuela

At the mouth it carries 4,850 m³/s on average: 1.9 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 832 m to 7 m, 1.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 97,000 km², about the size of KR. 681,000 people live in it. Highest water: from July to August; lowest: from January to April. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 100% of a year's flow.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • Ciudad GuayanaLargest city on its banks · 751,331 people
  • General Manuel Carlos Piar International Airport (PZO)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 9 km from the cityCar hire at POS airport (Port of Spain)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe163 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From January to MarchThe best months to visit

Caroní River, month by month

Highest water: from July to August

Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from January to March.

2,200
25°66 mmJan
1,500
25°51 mmFeb
1,200
26°65 mmMar
1,800
26°137 mmApr
3,500
26°244 mmMay
6,200
25°354 mmJun
7,900
25°335 mmJul
8,500
25°325 mmAug
7,100
25°229 mmSep
5,600
26°184 mmOct
4,100
25°152 mmNov
3,200
25°115 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 1,200 m³/s in the lowest month to 8,500 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

Caroní River: the basin in numbers

92,046 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

DammedReservoirs can hold 100% of a year's flow: much of the river is a chain of lakes.
  • 681,000people live in the basin
  • 8/km²people per km²
  • 640maverage altitude of the basin
  • 2,632mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 23.9°Caverage air temperature
  • 85%protected areas
  • 4.2%covered by lakes
  • 139km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 74% Forest
  • 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

Caroní River: what you find on the way

  • 1DamsMacagua Dam
  • 2WeirsDique
  • 30WaterfallsSalto Pampatá, Salto Eutobarima, Salto Cachamay and 27 more
  • 163RapidsRaudales de Mureyema, Rápidos de Remotó, Rápidos de Karukuya and 160 more
  • 2MarinasMarina del Ítalo
  • 6River beachesPlaya Punta Kaleta, Playa and 4 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Caroní 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.

  • 1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
  • 3lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 3mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Waterfalls (1)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Llovizna Fallskm 702

Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

Lakes and reservoirs (3)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Guri Reservoirkm 613 · 170 m deep3,661km²
  2. Caruachi Reservoirkm 677165km²
  3. Macagua Reservoirkm 69856km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (3)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Cerro Pawí14 km away1,180m
  2. Cerro Yuoromotá11 km away1,030m
  3. Caco-tepuí11 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Caroní River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Caroní River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth41 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

Caroní River in pictures

Vista RioCaroni DesdeOrinoco
Dilankf · CC BY-SA 4.0
Primer y Segundo Puente sobre el Rio Caroní. Estado Bolivar
Edprada · CC BY-SA 4.0
Puerto Ordaz Caroni
Wilmer Osario (Wguayana) · CC0
Parte del río caroni 03
Racso-arza · CC BY-SA 3.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (7)

Also: Kukenán River, Carrao River, Paragua River, Aponwao River, Ikabaru River, Karuay River, Yuruaní River

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q590533) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth 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, 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

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