The Catatumbo River ( es, Río Catatumbo) is a river rising in northern Colombia, flowing into

Lake Maracaibo Lake Maracaibo ( Spanish: Lago de Maracaibo; Anu: Coquivacoa) is a lagoon in northwestern Venezuela, the largest lake in South America and one of the oldest on Earth, formed 36 million years ago in the Andes Mountains. The fault in the northern s ...

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 ...

. The Catatumbo River is approximately long. It forms a part of the

international boundary Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...

between the two countries. The river's name means "House of Thunder" in the language of the Bari people. The river flows through the Catatumbo moist forests ecoregion. It then flows through the

Maracaibo dry forests The Maracaibo dry forests (NT0222) is an ecoregion in Venezuela around Lake Maracaibo. It contains the country's main oil fields. The habitat is criss-crossed by roads and is severely degraded by farming and livestock grazing. Geography Location ...

ecoregion before emptying into Lake Maracaibo. Prior to emptying into Maracaibo, the Catatumbo River also merges with the

Zulia River Zulia River () is a river in Venezuela and Colombia. It is a tributary of the Catatumbo River. The Zulia forms a small part of the international boundary between the two countries. Zulia Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; Wayuu: ''Mma’ip ...

. Together with the nearby

Escalante River The Escalante River is a tributary of the Colorado River. It is formed by the confluence of Upper Valley and Birch Creeks near the town of Escalante in south-central Utah, and from there flows southeast for approximately before joining Lake P ...

, Catatumbo is a producing area for

cocoa bean The cocoa bean (technically cocoa seed) or simply cocoa (), also called the cacao bean (technically cacao seed) or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of '' Theobroma cacao'', from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substa ...

s of the

Criollo Criollo or criolla (Spanish for creole) may refer to: People * Criollo people, a social class in the Spanish race-based colonial caste system (the European descendants) Animals * Criollo duck, a species of duck native to Central and South Ameri ...

cultivar.

Catatumbo lightning

The "Relámpago del Catatumbo" or "Faros del Catatumbo" (

Catatumbo lightning Catatumbo lightning ( es, Relámpago del Catatumbo) is an atmospheric phenomenon that occurs over the mouth of the Catatumbo River where it empties into Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. Catatumbo means "House of Thunder" in the language of the Bari p ...

) is a phenomenon that occurs over the

marshlands A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found ...

at the Lake Maracaibo

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on t ...

of the river, where

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average ...

storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), ...

s occur for about 10 hours a night, 140 to 160 nights a year, for a total of about 1.2 million lightning discharges per year. The light from this storm activity can be seen up to away and has been used for ship

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

; it is also known as the "Maracaibo

Beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

" for this reason.

Tributaries

The Catatumbo River is fed by the: *

Pamplonita River The Pamplonita River is the main river of the Colombian city of Cúcuta and one of the most important of the Norte de Santander Department. The Pamplonita River was used to transport cacao, the main form of wealth in the region and a major axis o ...

(tributary of Táchira) *

Táchira River The Táchira River is a river located in Táchira and it divides the border that exists between Venezuela and Colombia in that western state. The Simón Bolívar International Bridge across the Táchira River connects the city of San Antonio d ...

(tributary of Pamplonita)

References

Rivers of Colombia Rivers of Venezuela Maracaibo basin Lake Maracaibo International rivers of South America Colombia–Venezuela border {{Venezuela-river-stub