The Icabarú River, located in the southern part of the state of Bolívar, adjacent to
the border with Brazil, is one of the most important tributaries of the Caroní River, whose 5,030 km 2 basin is still covered mostly by a valuable and strategic rainforest despite the ugly scars resulting from all the mining activity. The basins of the Icabarú, Surucún, Cuquenán and Aponwao Rivers drain into the upper Caroní River basin. The confluence of the Cuquenán and the Yuruaní Rivers forms the Caroní River, which then flows north through the state of Bolívar until it reaches the Orinoco. Halfway downstream, the Caroní is joined by its main tributary, the Paragua River, and their combined waterflow then fills the reservoirs of the hydroelectric dams at Guri, Caruachi and Macagua I, II and III, all of
which generate at least 72% of Venezuela’s electricity.