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Darién National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Darién) is a
/ref>Official UNESCO website entry
/ref> The park covers .
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
in Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
. It is about 325 kilometers from Panama City
Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...
, and is the most extensive of all national parks of Panama and is one of the most important world heritage sites in Central America.
The Darién National Park is a natural bridge spanning North and South America.
In 1972 an area of became part of the Alto Darién Protection Forest. In 1980 the area was declared a National Park. In 1983 an area of became a UNESCO biosphere reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...
.World Conservation Monitoring Centre/ref>Official UNESCO website entry
/ref> The park covers .
Serranía del Darién
The Serranía del Darién is a small mountain range on the border between Colombia and Panamá in the area called the Darién Gap. It is located in the southeastern part of the Darién Province of Panamá and the northwestern part of the Chocó D ...
range, which parallels the Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
16 km to the northeast, and the Pacific Ocean coast. It is adjacent to the Los Katíos National Park
Los Katíos National Natural Park ( es, Parque Nacional Natural (PNN) Los Katíos) is a protected area located in northwest Colombia which covers about . The elevation ranges between . It is a part of the Darién Gap, a densely forested area sha ...
in Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
.
Habitat
The Darien National Park has myriad habitats, ranging from rocky coastlines to sandy beaches to mangroves. The park also has expansive swamps and large areas of tropical forests.Wildlife
Its most commonspecies
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
include macaw
Macaws are a group of New World parrots that are long-tailed and often colorful. They are popular in aviculture or as companion parrots, although there are conservation concerns about several species in the wild.
Biology
Of the many differe ...
, parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoid ...
, and tapir
Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South and Central America, with one species inhabit ...
s. The harpy eagle
The harpy eagle (''Harpia harpyja'') is a neotropical species of eagle. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan eagle, which is sometimes known as the New Guinea harpy eagle or Papuan harpy eagle. It is the ...
also calls this national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
home. It is noted for its incredible genetic value. The park is home to regional endemic species.
Indigenous inhabitants
The park is one of the few examples remaining in the world of a protected area inhabited by humans. To this day two Native tribes dwell in the park. Visitors usually fly intoEl Real
EL, El or el may refer to:
Religion
* El (deity), a Semitic word for "God"
People
* EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer
* El DeBarge, music artist
* El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...
, the closest town to the park.
Visiting the park
Due to its extreme isolation, the Darién National Park is not very accessible. There are, however, two places where the park is often visited.Santa Cruz de Cana Santa Cruz de Cana, popularly called Cana today, is the site of a former gold mine, and fort and village, founded by Spaniards, located in Darién Province, Panama. Now located within Darién National Park, the site is best known today for bird-w ...
(more simply known as Cana) is one of them. Set in the middle of the park near the eastern slope of Cerro Pirre, Cana is one of Panama's most incredible outdoor areas. It has been called one of the world's ten greatest bird watching spots. There are several trails and a ranger station there.
The second point of access is Pirre Station. This is an ANAM ranger station set on the opposite side of Cerro Pirre. This area has primary forests and an abundance of wildlife, including several types of monkeys, sloths, and many bird species. There are several trails leading away from the ranger station that can be hiked. Travelers can stay in a basic dormitory at the ranger station.
The park is also notable for the Darién Gap
The Darién Gap (, , es, Tapón del Darién , ) is a geographic region between the North and South American continents within Central America, consisting of a large watershed, forest, and mountains in Panama's Darién Province and the norther ...
, the only break in the Pan-American Highway
The Pan-American Highway (french: (Auto)route panaméricaine/transaméricaine; pt, Rodovia/Auto-estrada Pan-americana; es, Autopista/Carretera/Ruta Panamericana) is a network of roads stretching across the Americas and measuring about in to ...
on its intercontinental path from Argentina to Alaska.
References
---- {{DEFAULTSORT:Darien National Park National parks of Panama Darién Province Biosphere reserves of Panama World Heritage Sites in Panama