Napo River

The Napo River (Río Napo) is a tributary to the Amazon River that rises in Ecuador on the flanks of the east Andean volcanoes of Antisana, Sincholagua and Cotopaxi.

The total length is 1,075 km. The river drains an area of ca 103,000 km2. The mean annual discharge at Mazán 6,660 m3/s.

Geography


Before it reaches the plains it receives a great number of small streams from impenetrable, saturated and much broken mountainous districts, where the dense and varied vegetation seems to fight for every piece of ground. From the north it is joined by the Coca River, having its sources in the gorges of Cayambe volcano on the equator, and also a powerful river, the Aguarico having its headwaters between Cayambe and the Colombia frontier. From the west, it receives a secondary tributary, the Curaray, from the Andean slopes, between Cotopaxi and the Tungurahua volcano. From its Coca branch to the mouth of the Curaray the Napo is full of snags and shelving sandbanks and throws out numerous canoes among jungle-tangled islands, which in the wet season are flooded, giving the river an immense width. From the Coca to the Amazon it runs through a forested plain where not a hill is visible from the river - its uniformly level banks being only interrupted by swamps and lagoons. From the Amazon the Napo is navigable for river craft up to its Curaray branch, a distance of about 216 mi, and perhaps a bit further; thence, by painful canoe navigation, its upper waters may be ascended as far as Santa Rosa, the usual point of embarkation for any venturesome traveller who descends from the Quito tableland. The Coca river may be penetrated as far up as its middle course, where it is jammed between two mountain walls, in a deep canyon, along which it dashes over high falls and numerous reefs. This is the stream made famous by the expedition of the Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro.

Hydrometric stations on the Napo River:

Discharge
Napo River at Bellavista average (Q), dominante (Qd) discharge (m3/s) and sediment load (S – million ton/year). Period from 1991/09–2009/08:

Napo River at Bellavista average, minimum and maximum discharge (m3/s). Period from 2009/09 to 2023/08:

Napo River at Bellavista average, maximum, minimum and multiannual average (normal) discharge (m3/s) and anomaly (%):

Tributaries
List of the major tributaries of the Napo River (from the mouth upwards):
 * Period: 1971–2000