The Cuvo is a
river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
in central
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
. The river mouth is at the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
at
Benguela Bay, in
Cuanza Sul Province
Cuanza Sul Province ("South Cuanza River, Cuanza"; Umbundu: Kwanza Kombuelo Volupale) is a Provinces of Angola, province of Angola. It has an area of and a population of 1,881,873. Sumbe is the capital of the province. Dom founded the province ...
. Cuvo is its name in its upper reaches; its lower course is called the Keve or Queve. The river is navigable upstream to
Binga Falls near
Gabela.
Its main tributaries include the
Cussoi River.
The river may be the southern extent of the range of the
African manatee
The African manatee (''Trichechus senegalensis''), also known as the West African manatee, is a species of manatee that inhabits much of Western Africa – from Senegal to Angola. It is the only manatee species to be found in the Old World.
Ta ...
. The river wetland floodplain and
Kumbira Forest is part of an
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
with several rare species.
The river mouth has a
mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...
stand.
5.1 Angola
, Ramsar Sites Information Service
See also
* List of rivers of Angola
This is a list of rivers in Angola. This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name.
Atlantic Ocean
*Chiloango River
*Congo River
**Inkisi River
**Kasai River (Cassai River)
***Kwango ...
References
Rivers of Angola
{{Angola-river-stub