River
Catatumbo River
338 km from source to mouth · Venezuela and Colombia.
Venezuela and ColombiaFlows into Lake Maracaibo7th longest in Venezuela
In numbers
Length
338km
Average flow
750m³/s
Basin
22,317km²
Drop
1,190m
from 1,188 m to -2 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
338 km of river and 6 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,188 m
- 6 kmOcaña90,037 people
- 221 kmSardinata Rivertributary
- 247 kmZulia Rivertributary
- 252 kmEncontrados26,121 people
- 328 kmLaguna del Norte1.1 km²
- 334 kmLaguna Los Palitos2.6 km²
- 338 kmLake Maracaiboat -2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River shared between Colombia and Venezuela
At the mouth it carries 745 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 3.4 seconds. It drops from 1,188 m to -2 m, 3.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 22,317 km², about the size of BZ. 1.6 million people live in it. Highest water: from October to November; lowest: from February to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- OcañaLargest city on its banks · 90,037 people
- Camilo Daza International Airport (CUC)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 99 km from the city
- From January to FebruaryThe best months to visit
Catatumbo River, month by month
Highest water: from October to November
Lowest water: from February to March. Best months to visit: from January to February.
From about 370 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,300 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
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The basin
Catatumbo River: the basin in numbers
27,553 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.6millionpeople live in the basin
- 57/km²people per km²
- 753maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,982mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 23.8°Caverage air temperature
- 26%protected areas
- 0.3%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 23% Forest
- 6% Cropland
- 60% Pasture
- 2% Towns and cities
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
Catatumbo River: what you find on the way
- 2River beachesIsla Torno Blanco, Isla La Ceiba
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Catatumbo 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.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
18mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Laguna del Nortekm 3411.1km²
- Laguna Los Palitoskm 3482.6km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (18)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Alto Tospecio13 km away
- Alto Las Cruces15 km away
- Alto Las Liscas4.7 km away
- Alto del Lucero9.1 km away
- Alto Guarumal11 km away
- Cerro Cristales3.9 km away
- Cerro Arepas14 km away
- Alto Matarredonda8.5 km away
10 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
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
Catatumbo River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (3)
Also: Zulia River, Sardinata River, Peralonso River
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1948210) · 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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