Río Negro's Whirlpools and Rapids

Though called Rio Negro ("Black River"), the water in places is more like the color of a lovely cup of Earl Grey tea. What is not lovely is the whirlpools and cataracts.

The Río Negro, or Negro River, is the largest "blackwater" river in the world. For those who like their water clear blue-green, a dip in the Río Negro will perhaps not be so agreeable. The Río Negro itself varies in color from jet black to a tea color.

The Río Negro is a daddy longlegs of a river, stretching to 640 km or 400 miles.

Where, oh, where does this most splendid river originate from? I was just coming to that. (However, you really should learn to be more patient. It is said to be a virtue to be patient.) The Rio Negro springs from the Orinoco and Amazon basins and flows into the Amazon River at Manaus in Brazil.

In places the Río Negro is so calm that the current almost comes to a standstill, and would perhaps be charged with loitering if it were a wino on a city street. By way of contrast, just before the river connects with the Vaupés River, there is a rather nasty stretch of reefs, over which rage a dangerous gamut of hell-on-earth rapids, cataracts, eddies and whirlpools, which are strictly to be avoided unless you're accustomed to taking suicidal daredevil risks.