Morona

One of the longest rivers in Ecuador is the Morona River. This river is a tributary of the Marañón River that flows parallel to and directly to the west of the Pastaza River. It is the final stream of any significance on the northern bank of the Amazon before reaching the Pongo de Manseriche.

It is produced by a slew of watercourses that descend the slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes south of the massive volcano of Sangay; nonetheless, it quickly reaches the plain, where it gets its Cusulima branch. For small ships, the Morona is navigable for about 300 miles above its mouth, although it is highly tortuous. Many of its branches, particularly the Cusuhma and the Miazal, are navigable by canoe, with the latter reaching almost to the foot of Sangay. The Morona has been the site of several rough investigations in the expectation of finding it useful as a trade route between Ecuador's inter-Andean tableland and the Amazon River.

Length: 342 miles