World Heritage Identification Number: 1174
World Heritage since: 2018
Category: Mixed Cultural Heritage and Natural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇨🇴 Colombia
Continent: Americas
UNESCO World Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
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Chiribiquete National Park: A Tropical Rainforest Sanctuary
Chiribiquete National Park, colloquially known as "The Maloca of the Jaguar," is a vast and pristine expanse of tropical rainforest located in the southwestern region of Colombia. Established in 1989 and expanded twice since, it now encompasses approximately 43,000 square kilometers, making it the largest tropical rainforest national park globally. This expansive park serves as a crucial biodiversity hotspot, bridging four distinct biogeographical provinces: Amazon, Andes, Orinoco, and Guyana.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
Chiribiquete National Park, the largest protected area in Colombia, is the confluence point of four biogeographical provinces: Amazon, Andes, Orinoco and Guyana. As such, the National Park guarantees the connectivity and preservation of the biodiversity of these provinces, constituting itself as an interaction scenario in which flora and fauna diversity and endemism have flourished. One of the defining features of Chiribiquete is the presence of tepees (table-top mountains), sheer-sided sandstone plateaux that outstand in the forest and result in dramatic scenery that is reinforced by its remoteness, inaccessibility and exceptional conservation. Over 75,000 figures have been made by indigenous people on the walls of the 60 rock shelters from 20,000 BCE, and are still made nowadays by the uncontacted peoples protected by the National Park. These paintings depict hunting scenes, battles, dances and ceremonies, as well as fauna and flora species, with a particular the worship of the jaguar, a symbol of power and fertility. The indigenous communities, which are not directly present on the site, consider Chiribiquete as a sacred place that cannot be visited and that should be preserved unaltered.
Encyclopedia Record: Chiribiquete National Park
Chiribiquete National Natural Park is the largest national park in Colombia and the largest tropical rainforest national park in the world. It was established on 21 September 1989 and has been expanded twice, first in August 2013 and then in July 2018. The park occupies about 43,000 km2 (17,000 sq mi) and includes the Serranía de Chiribiquete mountains and the surrounding lowlands, which are covered by tropical moist forests, savannas and rivers.Additional Site Details
Area: 2,782,354 hectares
(ix) — Outstanding example representing ecological and biological processes
(x) — Contains most important habitats for biodiversity
Coordinates: 0.5252777778 , -72.7972222222
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© Carlos Castaño Uribe, CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
