Catatumbo

The Catatumbo rises in the mountains of northeastern Colombia and flows towards Lake Maracaibo. Its basin includes steep Andean slopes, forested lowlands and the waters that spread towards the lake. The Barí people inhabit this river country; their ancestral territory extended from the Maracaibo basin across the lower Perijá range towards the Cúcuta valley. The river provides a connection between the mountain interior and the broad lake.