The Caño Manamo is a

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributar ...

of the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

. It branches northwards from the main channel of the Orinoco to delimit the western edge of the

Orinoco Delta The Orinoco Delta is a vast river delta of the Orinoco River, located in eastern Venezuela. Location The Orinoco Delta is one of the eight natural regions of Venezuela. It covers the whole of Delta Amacuro State and a few square kilometers of M ...

, ultimately emptying into the

Gulf of Paria The Gulf of Paria ( ; es, Golfo de Paria) is a shallow (180 m at its deepest) semi-enclosed inland sea located between the island of Trinidad (Republic of Trinidad and Tobago) and the east coast of Venezuela. It separates the two countries ...

Tucupita Tucupita () is the capital city of the Venezuelan state of Delta Amacuro. Geography Delta Amacuro consists almost entirely of the swampy Orinoco River delta. Tucupita is hot and humid, and lies well into the delta on the Caño Manamo river (o ...

, the capital of

Delta Amacuro Delta Amacuro State ( es, Estado Delta Amacuro, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, and is the location of the Orinoco Delta. The Paria Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean are found to the north, Bolívar State is found to the south, the Atlantic O ...

state, is located on the east bank (right) of the Caño Manamo. Manamo is a Warao word meaning "two." A flood control program in the 1960s dammed the Caño Manamo and thus reduced water levels in the upper delta. This part of the delta became tidal and much more saline than before, with a drastic impact on the flora and fauna of the

Orinoco Delta swamp forests The Orinoco Delta swamp forests (NT0147) is an ecoregion of eastern Venezuela and northern Guyana covering the large and shifting Orinoco Delta. The vegetation is mostly permanently flooded rainforest. The ecoregion is relatively intact apart fro ...

References

Manamo Orinoco basin Gulf of Paria {{Venezuela-river-stub