Tucupita () is the capital city of the

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n state 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 ...

Geography

Delta Amacuro consists almost entirely of the swampy

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 ...

delta. Tucupita is hot and humid, and lies well into the delta on the

Caño Manamo The Caño Manamo is a distributary of the Orinoco River. It branches northwards from the main channel of the Orinoco to delimit the western edge of the Orinoco Delta, ultimately emptying into the Gulf of Paria. Tucupita, the capital of Delta Amacu ...

river (one of the two major branches of the Orinoco river delta). It is approached by a road which runs along the top of a barrier constructed in the 1960s to create dry land. The project is considered by many to be a failure since little dry land was created and massive ecological disruption was caused by salt water penetration of the delta. The delta is covered mostly by

mangrove swamp Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangroves cannot withstand fre ...

but there is a huge range of other flora and fauna, making it one of the world's more ecologically diverse places. Significant amounts of oil have been discovered in the western parts of the delta and there is apprehension that exploitation of this oil will cause substantial ecological damage.

Religion

Tucupita is the cathedral see of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Tucupita, with the Cathedral of the Divine Shepherdess.

(Eco-)Tourism

The main income of Tucupita comes from

eco-tourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide fun ...

. The attractions are the birds, mammals and reptiles of the delta, and the villages of the local Indians, the Warao. Tourists can visit the remote parts of the delta and stay in the stilted houses of the Warao in the delta itself. There are bus connections to Bolivar City and other towns in the north of Venezuela, but in the delta itself only travel by boat is possible. {{Authority control Cities in Delta Amacuro Populated places established in 1848