Urubamba River 3.62

The Urubamba River or Vilcamayo River is a river in Peru. Upstream it is called Vilcanota River . Within the La Convención Province the naming changes to Urubamba. A partially navigable headwater of the Amazon River, it rises in the Andes to the southeast of Cuzco. It originates on the slopes of Khunurana in the Puno Region, Melgar Province, near the La Raya pass. It flows north-north-west for 724 kilometers before coalescing with the Tambo River to form the Ucayali River.John Walter Gregory, the British geologist, drowned in the river on June 2, 1932 while on a geological expedition to the Andes.The Urubamba is divided into Upper Urubamba and Lower Urubamba, the dividing feature being the Pongo de Mainique, an infamous whitewater canyon.Upper UrubambaThe Upper Urubamba valley features a high population and extensive irrigation works. A number of ruins of the Inca Empire lie in the Sacred Valley, including the Incan city of Machu Picchu, Patallaqta, Pikillaqta and Raqch'i.