Serranía de la Macarena

Serranía de la Macarena
Serranía de la Macarena
Highest point
Elevation	2,615 m (8,579 ft)
Coordinates	2°19′55″N 73°53′12″W / 2.33194°N 73.88667°WCoordinates: 2°19′55″N 73°53′12″W / 2.33194°N 73.88667°W
Dimensions
Length	120 km (75 mi) north-south
Width	30 km (19 mi)
Geography
Country	Colombia

PNN Serranía de la Macarena
IUCN category II (national park)
Location	Meta Department,  Colombia
Nearest city	La Macarena
Area	6,200 km^2 (2,400 sq mi)
Established	1971

Serranía de la Macarena is an isolated mountain range located in the Meta Department, Colombia. The mountains are separated by about 40 km (25 mi) at their northern extreme from the East Andes. The range is orientated from north to south and is 120 km (75 mi) in length and 30 km (19 mi) wide. The highest peak ("El Gobernador", the governor) reaches 2,615 m (8,579 ft) and is the highest point of the Orinoquía Region. The first national reserve in Colombia was established in the central part of the mountain range in accordance with a Congressional Law promulgated in 1948.^[1] The status of National Natural Park was designated in 1971 and the protected area encompasses 6,200 km² (2,400 sq mi).

Biodiversity

The national park encompasses the ecologically unique meeting point for the flora and fauna of the Amazon, Orinoco and Andes regions. The area is of tropical climate and temperatures range from 42 °F (5.5 °C) to 88 °F (31 °C). These aspects help to maintain a high level of biodiversity with numerous endemic and rare species.^[2]

The ecosystems found within the park include rainforest, dry forest,^[3] shrublands and savanna.^[4] The mountains are home to around 50 known species of orchids, and botanists studying the area have identified more than 2000 other species of plants.

Mammal species include anteaters, jaguars, cougars, deer, 8 species of monkeys ^[5]

There are recorded 550 species of birds including the rare gray-legged tinamou.^[2]

100 species of reptiles

1,200 species of insects and

Ecotourism

The La Macarena National and Ecological Reserve Park is internationally known the Caño Cristales, known by people who has visited it one of the most beautiful rivers in the world.^[6]

There are also other important waterfalls such as Angostura I in the Guayabero and Caño Cafre rivers, surrounded by rocky edges with a great amount of petroglifos. Many waterfalls, as is the case of El Gato or Sopla Culos area difficult to spot due to the steep topography. Not the case of Canoas, which is one of the highest waterfalls in the Sierra

Geology

Basement rocks on the east side of the Macarenas include the Precambrian granite of the Guyana Shield in the Guaviare River valley and the San Jose del Guaviare area. The rocks of the shield are overlain by sandstones and conglomerates of the Vaupes Formation of Lower Paleozoic to the lower Oligocene age.^[7]

Colonization and conflict

The integrity of the national park has been historically threatened by the civil war, specially during the beginning of the actual hostilities in the early 1950's. As a result of the expulsion by governmental forces of hundreds of families from their lands in the Andean Region, many colonist families began the territorial construction of what nowadays is recognized as a region. The towns of Vistahermosa and La Macarena, Meta date from this period.

Since the late 1970's portions of the park, as has been the case of many terrain along the western Amazonian region in Colombia, have been used by peasant communities to grow coca as a result of the economic exclusion they face. and to house irregular rebel forces, because it is difficult for Colombian authorities to access and control the area.

Because of the existence of drug crops, for many years the Park was subjected to controversial glyphosate fumigation, until it was forbidden by law to do so in National Parks. In late 2005, after FARC guerrillas ambushed a number of Colombian security forces near the park, the Colombian government publicly announced the beginning of a manual coca eradication campaign in La Macarena as a form of retaliation. Manual eradication efforts, consisting of a heavy police and military presence on the ground as a way of protecting workers, began in January 2006.

After a number of workers and Colombian law enforcement authorities were wounded and killed due to ambushes, mines and other forms of guerrilla attacks, the government announced that fumigation would be employed to eradicate. This decision has been criticized, because environmentalists fear that fumigation will contribute to the further deterioration of the park's ecosystem. Later reforms relaxed the law's restrictions, but still is prohibited inside natural Parks. Manual eradication is the only strategy allowed.

References

1. "Colombia's Sierra de la Macarena".
2. "BirdLife International - Parque Nacional Natural Sierra de la Macarena".
3. "Northern South America: Colombia and Venezuela".
4. "PNN - Nature & Science Macarena".
5. "Exploraciones - Fundación Colibrí - Serranía de La Macarena" (PDF).
6. Catchpole, Karen. "Colombia's 'Liquid Rainbow'". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
7. Pinson, W. H., Jr., et. al., K-Ar and Rb-Sr Ages of Biotites from Colombia, South America, Geological Society of America Bulletin 1962, v. 73, pp. 907-910

External links

• La Macarena National Park, Spanish site of the Colombian Government
• "The colonization of La Macarena Ecological Reserve" (Virtual book in Spanish of the Colombian Luis Ángel Arango Library).

(Spanish)Sistema de Información Ambiental Territorial de la Amazonia colombiana SIAT-AC