Chiribiquete National Park

Petroglyph of an equine

Chiribiquete National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Natural Serranía de Chiribiquete; sometimes in English: Serranía de Chiribiquete National Park) is a national park in the Amazonia region of Colombia. The park is a mixed UNESCO World Heritage Site, designated as such in 2018.

Understand

Landscape

The national park is in the westernmost part of the Guyana Highlands, around the transition from the Llanos to the Amazon. It spans along the equator between -74° and -71°30' longitude and -0°20' to +1°42' latitude. Its elevation ranges from 200 to 1,000 m (660 to 3,280 ft) above sea level. At its establishment, it was the largest national park in Colombia.

The park is named after the mountain range Serranía de Chiribiquete, consisting of several tepuis (tabletop mountains), parts of which extend beyond the park's boundaries. The Northern Massif is in the northern part of the park in the Guaviare department and includes some of the highest tabletop mountains, reaching about 800 m (2,600 ft). This formation also includes Mount Cerro de Chiribiquete between the Macayá (also known as Tunia) and Ajajú Rivers. To the south of the Ajajú and Apaporis Rivers, entirely within the Caquetá department, lies the Central Massif. It is bounded to the south by the San Jorge-Mesay-Yarí river system. The mountains here are somewhat lower, reaching between 350 and 600 m (1,150 and 1,970 ft) in height. Finally, the Mesas de Iguaje are located in the southeastern part of the park, with the smallest tabletop mountains reaching up to 400 m (1,300 ft).

Flora and fauna

The vegetation can be grouped into different biomes found within the park, such as savannah areas, floodplain forests, terra firma forests and tepui forests. The park is very ecologically diverse, so much, that it's believed that it's representative of 30% of the ecosystems and flora in the Colombian Amazon.

The park has its fair share of fauna found in the Amazon. Species such as the jaguar, the tapir and the harpy eagle, among many others, inhabit the park.

Visitor information

• Park website (in Spanish)

Get in

There are no roads into the park.

See

• See the numerous rock art in the park, which makes this park a mixed UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park holds more than 600,000 traces of over 75,000 petroglyphs and pictographs have been made by indigenous people on the walls of the 60 rock shelters from 20,000 BCE.

Buy, eat and drink

There are no shops in the park; all food and drinks, including water, must be brought with you.

Sleep