Vaupés River (Uaupés River) is a tributary of the Rio Negro in South America. It rises in the Vaupes Department of Colombia, flowing east through Vaupés Department. It forms part of the international border between the Vaupés department of Colombia and the Amazonas state of Brazil. On the border it merges with the Papurí River and becomes known as the Uaupés. In 1847 an explorer saw a rapid which hurled its waves 40 or in the air, "as if great subaqueous explosions were taking place." The river continues eastwards through the Alto Rio Negro Indigenous Territory until it flows into the Rio Negro at São Joaquim, Amazonas. Vaupés is a blackwater river.