Cayambe Coca National Park is a national park in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

located along the Equator about from Quito. The park encompasses an area of .

The reserve

The park includes two very different regions of Ecuador, the high altitude sierra with Cayambe volcano and the hot, humid rainforest of the Amazon basin as well as the intervening temperate cloud forest. There are three entrances, and the one chosen by the visitor will reflect which region they wish to visit because there are few tracks within the park. The entrance near the town of Cayambe in

Pichincha Province Pichincha () is a province of Ecuador located in the northern Sierra region; its capital and largest city is Quito. It is bordered by Imbabura and Esmeraldas to the north, Cotopaxi and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas to the south, Napo and ...

provides access to the mountain. The high level "Ruales-Oleas-Bergé Refuge" is a mountain hut with accommodation for those who wish to climb the volcano, while other attractions include lakes, waterfalls and forests. An entrance near

Papallacta Papallacta is a small village at an altitude of in Napo Province, Ecuador. The village is located off the Eastern Cordilleras, on the road from Quito into the Amazon rainforest. It is known for its hot springs. How to reach The drive from ...

Napo Province Napo () is a province in Ecuador. Its capital is Tena. The province contains the Napo River. The province is low developed without much industrial presence. The thick rainforest is home to many natives that remain isolated by preference, descenda ...

provides access to the forests and lakelets in the Andean foothills and the Páramo, an area of tropical, montane vegetation above the treeline. A third entrance near Santa Rosa de Quijos provided access to the formerly spectacular San Rafael Falls, once the highest waterfall in the country.

Fauna

Large birds such as the

Andean condor The Andean condor (''Vultur gryphus'') is a giant South American Cathartid vulture and is the only member of the genus ''Vultur''. Found in the Andes mountains and adjacent Pacific coasts of western South America, the Andean condor is the larg ...

and variable hawk are commonplace in the skies above the reserve. Spectacled bears,

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

es, and

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

are some of the larger animals of the reserve. Páramo rabbits and armadillos are among the smaller fauna. There are 106 species of mammals, including the

mountain tapir The mountain tapir, also known as the Andean tapir or woolly tapir (''Tapirus pinchaque'') is the smallest of the four widely recognized species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism ...

, cougar and

culpeo The culpeo (''Lycalopex culpaeus''), also known as culpeo zorro, Andean zorro, Andean fox, Paramo wolf, Andean wolf,Comparative ecology of two South American foxes, 'Dusicvon ariseus' and 'culpaeus' by Warren E. Johnson. Doctoral dissertation. Io ...

, 395 species of birds, 70 reptiles, and 116 amphibians.

Flora

Local habitat types include the grasslands of the páramo and montane cloud forests.

Bunchgrass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perenni ...

es,

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...

s, and

lycopods Lycopodiopsida is a class of vascular plants known as lycopods, lycophytes or other terms including the component lyco-. Members of the class are also called clubmosses, firmosses, spikemosses and quillworts. They have dichotomously branching s ...

are common plants. There are over 100 species of

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

plants.

Culture

There are indigenous communities living within the protected area such as the

Quechua people Quechua people (, ; ) or Quichua people, may refer to any of the aboriginal people of South America who speak the Quechua languages, which originated among the Indigenous people of Peru. Although most Quechua speakers are native to Peru, there ...

of Oyacachi in the

and the Cofán people of Sinangoé in the Sucumbíos Province.

Tourist attractions

, which features

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by c ...

s and highland prairies frequented for fishing and bird watching. * Cayambe Canton, which is the site of the Pambamarca pre-Incan structures, the Sun and Moon temples in Puntiatsil, and part of the Inca Trail. * The snow-topped Cayambe volcano. * Lake Puruhanta, which has trails, and camping, and is the site of ancient ruins called ''la Mesa''. * Lago San Marcos * San Rafael Waterfall on Coca River, until recently, the tallest waterfall in Ecuador, with a height of . **On February 2, 2020 the water stopped flowing, the result of a sinkhole nearby which divided the cascade into three streams which are no longer easily observed. * Quijos Valley *The summits Sarahurco () and Cerro Puntas () and the

Reventador Reventador is an active stratovolcano which lies in the eastern Andes of Ecuador. It lies in a remote area of the national park of the same name, which is Spanish for "exploder". Since 1541, it has erupted over 25 times, although its isolated loca ...

Volcano (3485 m) *The virgin forests of Paquiestancia and Cascade of Buga (3500 m)

References

External links

Explore the Diverse Terrain of the Cayambe Coca Ecological Reserve

Photos of Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve
{{Authority control Nature reserves in Ecuador Geography of Sucumbíos Province Geography of Napo Province Geography of Pichincha Province Geography of Imbabura Province Tourist attractions in Sucumbíos Province Tourist attractions in Napo Province Tourist attractions in Pichincha Province Tourist attractions in Imbabura Province Protected areas established in 1970 1970 establishments in Ecuador Northwestern Andean montane forests