The river forms as a little trickle from the little snow melt of Mont Orohena in the center of Tahiti and flows northward toward Arue.

Eventually, it becomes a 3.0 m (10 ft) wide river 19 km (12 mi) south of the ocean.

The lowest elevation is 0.61 m (2 ft) once the Papenoo River meets the Pacific Ocean.

The river was previously called Vaituaru, "the stream that destroys everything in its path".

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