The Manduvirà (Spanish: Río Manduvirá; Guarani: Ysyry Manduvira) is a tributary of the Paraguay River whose waters are formed by the union of large rivers such as the Yhaguy River, the Tobatiry River and the Hondo Arroyo. Río Manduvirá originates in the Cordillera de Altos and runs from east to west. It is a navigable river characterised by an extremely meandering course.
The Manduvirá flows into the Paraguay River about 50km north of Asunción. Part of it serves as a natural boundary between the departments of San Pedro and Cordillera, and is surrounded by dense estuaries and plains.
Manduvirá River’s peculiarity is that it does not flow directly into the Paraguay River, but into one of its branches, the Paraguaymi. The Paraguaymi continues 3 km upstream and 4 km downstream until it reaches the Paraguay River, leaving in the middle of this delta an island called “Banco’i”, which serves as communal land for the families of the area.
Until the 1980s, this river served as an important route for communication and trade between the entire area of Arroyos y Esteros and Emboscada, and the riverside cities on the Paraguay River, because there was no direct means of communication with the capital. It was not until the 1990s, with the paved Caacupé-Tobatí-Arroyos y Esteros that the waterway was replaced by all-weather roads. For practically the entire last century, this was the route used by locals to send produce from the country to Asunción as well as to Argentina.
- GPS
- -25.2500000, -57.0000000
- Geographical region
- South America
- Drainage Basin
- Paraguay
- River catchment
- Water body type
- River
- Water body name
- Manduvira
- Water body part
- Meander
- Water body course
- Lower course
- Water body: tributary of
- Tributary name
