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River

Japurá River

2,820 km from source to mouth · Brazil and Colombia.

BrazilColombiaBrazil and ColombiaFlows into Amazon River4th longest in Brazil

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

2,820km

Average flow

13,900m³/s

Basin

282,000km²

Drop

2,861m

from 2,886 m to 25 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

2,820 km of river and 16 stops on the way: 5 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

2,886 m25 m
Sourceat 2,886 m0 km
Laguna Sencella0.4 km²524 km
Laguna Guaquira3.5 km²803 km
Caño Paujil, Caquetá1,101 km
Cahuinari Rivertributary1,471 km
Cachoeira Jacaré Ponta1,973 km
Japurá9,397 people2,215 km
Lago Maraã4.1 km²2,372 km
Amazon Riverat 25 m2,820 km
01,0002,0002,820 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 2,886 m
  2. 183 kmPuerto Guzmán24,355 people
  3. 285 kmCurillo9,539 people
  4. 424 kmOrteguaza Rivertributary
  5. 428 kmSolano25,546 people
  6. 468 kmMecaya Rivertributary
  7. 524 kmLaguna Sencella0.4 km²
  8. 733 kmCaguán Rivertributary
  9. 803 kmLaguna Guaquira3.5 km²
  10. 1,101 kmCaño Paujil, Caquetá
  11. 1,471 kmCahuinari Rivertributary
  12. 1,973 kmCachoeira Jacaré Ponta
  13. 2,215 kmJapurá9,397 people
  14. 2,325 kmLago Jarpia22 km²
  15. 2,372 kmLago Maraã4.1 km²
  16. 2,374 kmMaraã18,261 people
  17. 2,655 kmYarí Rivertributary
  18. 2,820 kmAmazon Riverat 25 m

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

River in South America

At the mouth it carries 13,915 m³/s on average: 5.6 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 2,886 m to 25 m, 1.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 282,000 km², about the size of EC. 660,000 people live in it. Highest water: from May to July. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • SolanoLargest city on its banks · 25,546 people
  • Gustavo Artunduaga Paredes Airport (FLA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 105 km from the cityCar hire at RBR airport (Rio Branco)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water10 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe1 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Japurá River, month by month

Highest water: from May to July

Best months to visit: from May to September.

10,500
26°207 mmJan
10,000
26°218 mmFeb
11,900
26°284 mmMar
15,500
26°332 mmApr
19,900
26°353 mmMay
21,700
25°299 mmJun
21,000
25°275 mmJul
18,000
26°239 mmAug
14,700
26°234 mmSep
13,000
26°239 mmOct
11,800
27°230 mmNov
11,400
26°227 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 10,000 m³/s in the lowest month to 21,700 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

Japurá River: the basin in numbers

268,751 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.
  • 660,000people live in the basin
  • 2/km²people per km²
  • 260maverage altitude of the basin
  • 2,946mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 25.5°Caverage air temperature
  • 39%protected areas
  • 0.2%covered by lakes

What covers the basin

  • 82% Forest
  • 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

Japurá River: what you find on the way

  • 4WaterfallsCascada del Indio, Cascada la Honda, Cascada and 1 more
  • 1Rapids
  • 10Ferry piersCanoe to Shasta Paraiso, Japurá, Maraã and 7 more
  • 36River beachesIsla Monaguete, Islas El Corazon, Isla Medio Mondo and 33 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Japurá 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.

  • 2waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
  • 4lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 19mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Waterfalls (2)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Caño Paujil, Caquetákm 833
  2. Cachoeira Jacaré Pontakm 1,493

Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

Lakes and reservoirs (4)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Laguna Sencellakm 3970.4km²
  2. Laguna Guaquirakm 6073.5km²
  3. Lago Jarpiakm 1,75922km²
  4. Lago Maraãkm 1,7944.1km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (19)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Alto de Sucubún7.5 km away
  2. Cordillera de Sucubún11 km away
  3. Cordillera de Santo Domingo12 km away
  4. Cuchilla San Francisco11 km away
  5. Chorrera Alta8.9 km away
  6. Cordillera de Chorrillos11 km away
  7. Cuchilla Trilladero10 km away
  8. Cerro Punturco8.0 km away

11 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Japurá River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Japurá River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth71 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

Japurá River in pictures

Afluentes del río Caquetá
Sando84 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Ecologia de reserva intacta 91407-2019-05-11 at 10.47.50 PM - copia
Ingeyucuna · CC BY-SA 4.0
Caqueta Noble Easton
SDASM Archives · No restrictions

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q171840) · 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, 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