Vakunayka

The Vakunayka (Вакунайка; Вакунайка) is a river in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) and Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. It is a right hand tributary of the Chona, and is 363 km long, with a drainage basin of 10100 km2.

There are no permanent settlements by the Vakunayka. The Russian Geographical Society organized an expedition in 1853–55 to survey the orography, geology and population of the Vilyuy and Chona basins.

Course
The river begins in the Central Siberian Plateau. It flows first westwards for a relatively short stretch, then it bends and heads roughly northwards across the middle part of the plateau, in the border area between Irkutsk Oblast and Yakutia. Parts of its floodplain are marshy. Finally the Vakunayka joins the right bank of the Chona 300 km from its mouth in the Vilyuy Reservoir. The river is fed by snow and rain and freezes between October and late May.

The main tributaries of the Vakunayka are the 196 km long Killemtine and the 80 km long Mukoki on the right.