Chiribiquete National Natural Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Natural (PNN) Serranía de Chiribiquete) is the largest national park in Colombia and the largest tropical rainforest national park in the world. It was created on September 21, 1989, and has grown larger two times, first in August 2013 and then in July 2018. The park covers about 43,000 square kilometers (17,000 square miles) and includes the Serranía de Chiribiquete mountains and the nearby lowlands, which are covered by tropical forests, open grasslands, and rivers.

History

Chiribiquete National Natural Park was created on September 21, 1989. The park's size increased from 13,000 km (5,000 sq mi) to 28,000 km (11,000 sq mi) on August 21, 2013. On February 21, 2018, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos announced that the park would grow by an additional 15,000 km (5,800 sq mi). The park's total area became 43,000 km (17,000 sq mi), and it was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on July 2, 2018.

Rock art

The region is very diverse in plant and animal life and has many different types of rock art. More than 600,000 marks from over 75,000 petroglyphs and pictographs have been created by indigenous people on the walls of 60 rock shelters. These shelters are still used today by uncontacted people who live in the National Park. The rock art was made until the 16th century. Some of the paintings were first photographed by geologist Jaime Galvis between 1986 and 1987. Additional research was done by Carlos Castaño-Uribe, former director of the National Natural Parks System of Colombia, and Dutch geologist and paleontologist Thomas van der Hammen from 1990 to 1992. In 2014, British wildlife filmmaker Mike Slee and Colombian photographer and explorer Francisco Forero Bonell photographed and filmed the rock paintings on vertical rock faces inside the park.

Geography

Chiribiquete National Park is located in the northwest of the Colombian Amazon, in the departments of Caquetá and Guaviare. It is found within the areas under the control of the municipalities of Solano, Cartagena del Chairá, and San Vicente del Caguán in Caquetá, and Calamar and San José del Guaviare in Guaviare. The park is bordered by the Tunia River (also called the Macaya River) in the northeast, which joins the Ajaju River at a place called Dos Ríos to form the Apaporís River. The park’s boundaries are shaped by the Apaporís, Gunaré, and Amú Rivers in the east, the Mesay and Yari Rivers in the south, and the Hiutoto, Tajisa, Ajaju, and Ayaya Rivers in the west.

Chiribiquete National Park is located in the western part of the Guiana Shield, east of the Eastern Cordillera, north of the Amazonian plains, west of the Upper Río Negro, and south of the savannas of the Orinoquía. The park’s elevations range from about 200 to 1,000 meters above sea level. It contains geological features such as plateaus and steep rocky structures. These formations are divided into three sections: the Northern Massif, the Central Massif, and Iguaje Messas. The park is famous for its tepuis, which are table-top mountains that rise suddenly from the forest. The mountain ridge of Chiribiquete is an important part of the rocky chain formed during the Precambrian and Paleozoic periods, which are ancient geological eras that make up the Guiana Shield.

Biogeographically, Chiribiquete is located in the Guyanas. It includes many different biomes, such as flooded savannas and forests, tropical savannas, shrublands, and tropical moist forests.

Chiribiquete National Park covers the drainage basins of the Mesay, Cuñare, San Jorge, and Amú Rivers. Most of the rivers in the park are tributaries of the Caquetá River, which flows into the Amazon River. Many of the rivers are called blackwater rivers because their dark color comes from sediments in the surrounding soil.

Chiribiquete National Natural Park has a tropical climate and receives about 4,500 mm of rainfall each year. The park has high cloud cover because of the direction of the Serranía de Chiribiquete mountains. Rainfall is lowest between December and February and highest between April and July. The average temperature is 24°C (75°F), with large differences between day and night. During dry months, temperatures can reach 32°C (90°F) during the day and drop to 20°C (68°F) at night. The temperature difference between lower and higher areas of the park is also large. Temperatures can reach 35°C (95°F) in lower areas and drop to 2°C (36°F) in higher areas. The average humidity is 40% during the day and rises to 100% at night.

Flora

Chiribiquete contains 30% of the ecosystems and plant life found in the Colombian Amazon. Scientists have identified 1,801 different plant species in the park so far. The tropical rainforests of Chiribiquete are very dense and tall, with some trees growing as high as 40 meters (about 130 feet). The most common trees include the Amazon tree-grape (Pourouma cecropiifolia), guamo (Inga acrocephala), ucuuba (Virola sebifera), syringe tree (Hevea guianensis), and capinuri (Pseudolmedia laevis). The forest floor is thick with many types of plants that grow on other plants, such as parasitic and epiphytic species. In mountain areas, shrubs grow in clusters up to 12 to 15 meters (about 39 to 49 feet) tall on sandy soil. Areas with little soil, such as waterfalls and rocky surfaces, are home to many plants that are found nowhere else, including the monotypic genus Senefelderopsis, Hevea nitida var. toxicodendroides, Graffenrieda fantastica, and Vellozia tubiflora.

Fauna

Scientists have found 209 butterfly species, 238 fish species, 57 amphibian species, 60 reptile species, more than 410 bird species, and 82 mammal species in Chiribiquete so far. Many of these species are at risk of disappearing and are found only in this area. The region is known for having many species of amphibians and freshwater fish that are found only there. It also has about 30% of the bat species found in the Colombian Amazon and 10% of the butterfly species found in the country.

Some of the most important birds in Chiribiquete include the Guianan cock-of-the-rock, scarlet macaw, green-and-rufous kingfisher, Amazon kingfisher, ringed kingfisher, rufous motmot, oilbird, and the Chiribiquete emerald hummingbird, which is found only in this area. Other birds in the park include several tinamou species, curassows in the Crax genus, and motmots in the Momotus genus. Visitors may also see harpy eagles, speckled chachalacas, and other birds regularly.

So far, scientists have identified 52 bat species in Chiribiquete, which makes up about 30% of the bat diversity in the Colombian Amazon. Notable bat species include dog-like bats, mouse-eared bats, bulldog bats, short-tailed fruit bats, and Marinkelle's sword-nosed bat. Some of the carnivores in the park are the giant otter, neotropical otter, ocelot, cougar, and jaguar. The park is home to 8 primate species, including the white-fronted capuchin, tufted capuchin, common squirrel monkey, Spix's night monkey, brown woolly monkey, and Venezuelan red howler monkey. It also has armadillos in the Dasypus genus, the giant anteater, black agouti, lowland paca, Amazon river dolphin, white-lipped peccary, and Brazilian tapir.