The Caura is a tributary of the Orinoco

Orinoco

The Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes called the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3% of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia...

 River, located in Bolívar State

Bolívar (state)

Bolívar State , is one of the 23 states into which Venezuela is divided. The state capital city is Ciudad Bolívar. Bolívar State covers a total surface area of 238,000 km² and in June 30, 2010 had an estimated population of 1,620,359....

 in Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

. Its flow is the second after the Caroni River among the affluents of the Orinoco River, with almost 3.000 m³/s.
The river is inhabited by both the Ye'kuana

Ye'kuana

The Ye'kuana, also called Ye'Kuana, Yekuana, Yequana, Yecuana, Dekuana, Maquiritare, Makiritare, So'to or Maiongong, are a Cariban-speaking tropical rain forest tribe who live in the Caura River and Orinoco River regions of Venezuela in Bolivar State and Amazonas State...

 and Sanema

Sanumá

The Sanum, also referred to as Sanema, Sanima Tsanuma, Guaika, Samatari, Samatali, Xamatari and Chirichano in the literature, are a South American tropical rain forest tribe related to the Yanomami. They number about 1500 and live on both sides of the border of Brazil and Venezuela...

 indigenous groups.

The Caura Basin

Length of the Caura River is about 723 km. Its major tributary (almost as big as the Caura) is the Erebato. Both rivers emerge from the Jaua-Sarisariñama

Sarisariñama

The Sarisariñama tepui is a mountain in the Jaua-Sarisariñama National Park at the far south-west of Bolívar State, Venezuela, near the border with Brazil. Altitude: 300 - 2,350 metres. The name of the mountain originates from the tale of local Ye'kuana Indians about an evil spirit living in caves...

 Plateau (more than 2000 meters above sea level). The Caura is navigable up to Para Falls (Salto Pará), an impressive waterfall formed by two branches of the river with an island in the middle 6.310521°N 64.523735°W
Both branches have some rapids and join in one of the most remarkable waterfalls in the Orinoco basin, not because of its height, but because of the impressive flow of water.
The Caura is a Blackwater river

Blackwater river

A blackwater river is a river with a deep, slow-moving channel that flows through forested swamps and wetlands. As vegetation decays in the water, tannins are leached out, resulting in transparent, acidic water that is darkly stained, resembling tea or coffee. Most major blackwater rivers are in...

, like the Caroní, the Ventuari River

Ventuari River

The Ventuari River is a river in the Orinoco basin in Venezuela. The Ventuari flows from eastern Venezuela in the Guiana Highlands southwest into the Orinoco River. It is 520 km long and its major tributary is the Manapiare River.-References:...

and the upper Orinoco. The Caura is 1,500 m wide at Musinacio (Musiú Ignacio ), the point where it joins the Orinoco (almost a mile wide).

The Microclimate created by the Caura and Orinoco rivers

Satellite images in the Intertropical Zone show an interesting lack of clouds above the biggest rivers, such as the Caura and Orinoco, and also in the Amazon river7.436007°N 64.798737°W. We need to take into account two facts:

• Satellite images, like aerial ones, are taken in the morning, when there are less clouds in the atmosphere.
• Sunshine heats up both water in rivers and land surface. However, water needs much more time to heating up than land does and atmosphere air is not heated by solar rays because it is diathermanous. It is heat coming up from soil and river waters, which in turn heat up the atmosphere. Therefore, difference of temperature between land and rivers is at its maximum at 10 o'clock in the morning (more or less). At that time, land surface reflects heat to the atmosphere, making air to ascend and condensate, forming clouds, while water is still heating up and, thus, there is not outcoming heat to the atmosphere.