Río Salamá, Lower, Guatemala (area: Salamá; click here for the Guatemala table of rivers)

river photo

Class: III-; Ave. Gradient: 4 m/km; Portages: none; Length: 12 km; Time: 2 hours

Season: July to October; rafts? no; Highlights: nice gorges; Crux move: poor shuttle roads

Water Quality: poor; Water Temperature: cool

PI: El Tempisque vado (900 m); TO: end of Camalmapa road (850 m)

Description: (click here for general notes about my descriptions)

The lower Río Salamá offers some pretty class III gorges, connected by easier class II stretches. You pass several communities and hammock bridges along the way but you feel far from civilization.

A full description is in the Mayan Whitewater Guatemala guidebook.

Descent History: Nils Saubès and I ran this in September 2013, with 500 cfs.

Flow Notes: The Río Salamá needs heavy rains to come up. Some of the flow will come from the Matanzas river and dam: the dam has a gauge. The gauge on the parallel Río Xococ should give a good hint as to general water levels in the other tributaries.

Nearby Tourist Attractions: not much in this area.