Area of national
park: 11,350 square miles (29,385
km)
Amazon rainforest:
400,000 square miles (1,035,995
sq. km)
Established as
a national park: 1975
Sunset
The park covers an area
of 293,500 hectares. It is situated
in the southern part of the Amazonian
Trapezoid, between the Amazon River
to the south and the Cotuhé
River to the north. The western border
is the Amacayacu River and the Cabinas
and Parnate streams; the eastern border,
the Matamata and Lorena streams. Mean
temperature is 27.5° The lowest
rainfall occurs in July and the highest
in October. The upper forest canopy
in the park varies between thirty
and fifty meters in height. There
are 468 recorded species of birds,
11 species of herons, and 150 of aquatic
mammals, including the Amazonian manatee
and the river dolphin.
Reptiles have the greatest
number of recorded species in Colombia,
including four of the country’s
six crocodile species. Fish are diverse
and provide the basic sustenance of
the inhabitants of the region. Around
fourteen Indian tribes inhabit the
Amazonian Trapezoid. Within the park
area, there are two Tikuna Indian
communities: Palmeras on the Amazon
River and San Martin de Amacayacu
on the Amacayacu River.[1]
Amacayacu National Park
is a national park located along the
Amazon River in the Amazonas Department
in the south of Colombia. The word
"Amacayacu" means "River
of the Hamocs" in the indigenous
language Quechua. The Ticuna people
currently inhabit a part of the park.
In order to travel to
the Amacayacu National Park, travellers
must arrive in the city of Leticia
then embark by boat to sail for the
flow of the Amazon River.
From the park visitors
can do different activities such as
trips along the Amazon river to different
islands like Mico's island where you
can find hundreds of monkeys, Mocagua's
island where one can see Victoria
Regia or lotus flower and one of the
most interesting activities: a trip
up the amazon river to Tarapoto Lake
which has botos or amazon dolphins.
The park includes accommodations
that consists in a Maloka where travellers
can sleep with a group of people in
hamocs or cabins for 2 to 4 travellers.[2]
The travel journey lasts
three days and it is very interesting
although travellers must be very careful
about mosquitos when the sun goes
down. Travellers are advised to wear
shirts with long sleeves and long
trousers.
Thirty percent of Colombia
is Amazon rainforest. Located on the
northern bank of the Amazon, sandwiched
next to the Cothue River, this Amacayacu
National Park is Colombia's most pristine
section of the Amazon. It is bordered
in the east by the Amacayacu River.
Trees here include the aptly named
axebreaker with its huge buttress
roots, and the strangler fig which
gradually smothers the trees it uses
for support to death. Amacayacu is
rich in animal life. For two years,
the British Ornithological Union conducted
a bird count here and identified 490
species, including 11 classes of heron
alone. Mammals are represented by
about 150 species, including the three-toed
sloth, tamandua, white-eared opossum,
and cotton-top tamarin. Pink river
dolphins or botos are seen in the
Amazon. The vistor's center has platforms
in the forest from which to watch
the wildlife. The park is reached
by air and river, with a 45 minute
flight from Bogota to Leticia, followed
by a three-hour boat trip. [3]
From the park visitors
can do different activities such as
trips along the Amazon river to different
islands like Mico's island where you
can find hundreds of monkeys, Mocagua's
island where one can see Victoria
Regia or lottus flower and one of
the most interesting activities: a
trip up the amazon river to Tarapoto
Lake which has botos or amazon dolphins.
With the largest tropical
rainforest and the most copious river
in the world, the Amazonian region
we share with our neighbors is another
of Colombias treasures. It is a prodigious
place, not only for the aboriginal
people that inhabit it and the sheer
size of the river, but also for the
life it spawns and nurtures on land
and water. Watch the You Tube video
AMACAYACU NATURE
PARK
The park is at the southern
end of the Department of Amazonas and
occupies a large part of the Amazon
trapezoid.
The municipalities of Leticia and Puerto
Nariño manage the 725,000 acres
of protected area. “Amacayacu”
means “Hammock River” in
Quechua, probably a consequence of the
arrival of missionaries into the area.
To reach the Park, fly
to Leticia and take a launch north for
40 miles up the Amazon to the Matamata
stream, which is the edge of the Park.
In 1542 the conquistador
Francisco de Orellana started from the
place where the Aguarico and Curarary
river join in the Napo Valley in Ecuador
and traveled to the mouth of the Amazon,
also named Marañon. At the time
that part of the Amazon basin was inhabited
by Kahuapanas, Jeberos, Boras, Kotuenes,
Jiduas, Muinanes, Mirañas, Andokes,
Huitotos, Omaguas, Yaguas, Cocamas,
Otucunas and Ticunas. Very few of them
are left today, and only the Tikunas
are still in their ancestral lands.
There are two types of
terrain in this region: rolling and
relatively dry land which does not flood
and supports vegetation; and the floodlands
The average temperature is 27°C.
The Park has many examples of the spectacular
Victoria lily. Capiron and Munguaba
trees are characteristic of the swampy
floodlands.
On the drier land trees
grow to 100-130ft high. The taller species
include the red and white cedar, caoba,
ceiba and uvo. Amacacayu has some 150
species of mammals, including the pink
dolphin and the endangered species such
as the danta, jaguar, the manatee and
the otter. The most spectacular of the
primates is the golden lion tamarin,
the smallest in the world. There are
some 500 species of birds, including
macaws and parrots. Among the reptiles
are the jabuti tortoise – the
largest fresh water tortoise in the
world – and the black alligator.
And there are boa constrictors, anacondas
and coral snakes. Among the fish are
the parcucú and the piranhas.[4]
