The Coesewijne River is a
blackwater river
A blackwater river is a type of River#Classification, river with a slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. Most major blackwater rivers are in the Amazon Basin and the Southern United States. The term is used in fluvial ...
in
Suriname
Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...
.
It is a tributary of the
Coppename River
The Coppename is a river in Suriname (South America) in the district of Sipaliwini, forming part of the boundary between the districts of Coronie and Saramacca.
Course
The Coppename river begins in the Wilhelmina Mountains. Its tributaries are ...
and flows into the Coppename south of
Boskamp. The river has its source in the .
Overview
The northern part of the river flows through an agricultural area. Further south, the Coesewijne flows through marshes, seasonally flooded grassland, and swamp forests.
The Coesewijne is a
meander
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...
ing river which twists and turns through the landscape.
The Coesewijne is a popular fishing river.
During the dry season the creeks and swamps in the area start to dry up, resulting in an abundance of fish in the river.
The river is home to a large population of
caiman
A caiman ( (also spelled cayman) from Taíno language, Taíno ''kaiman'') is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family (biology), family, the other being alligators. ...
s,
giant otter
The giant otter or giant river otter (''Pteronura brasiliensis'') is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the weasel family, Mustelidae, a globally successful group of predators, reaching up to . Atypical of mustel ...
s and
manatees
Manatees (, family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living spe ...
. The upper course of the river has been protected as the
Boven Coesewijne Nature Reserve
The Boven Coesewijne Nature Reserve () is a protected area and nature reserve in Suriname. The reserve is located along the headwaters of the Coesewijne River. It is important for the brown sand and white sand savannahs located within the reserv ...
since 1986.
References
Rivers of Suriname
{{Suriname-river-stub