The Lagunas de Chacahuan National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Lagunas de Chacahua), created in 1937, is a

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 ...

located in the Municipality of ChineseVilla de Tututepec de Melchor Ocampo in the Mexican state of

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

, about 54 km west of Puerto Escondido, near a village called Zapotalito. It can be reached via Federal Highway 200 or by boat from Puerto Escondido. It is located between the towns of Santiago Jamiltepec and Puerto Escondido. The park encompasses 132.73 square kilometres, about 30 km² of which is taken by various lagoons such as the ‘’’Laguna de Chacahua,’’’ ‘’’Laguna de La Pastoria,’’’ and Laguna Las Salinas. There are various smaller lagoons that are connected by narrow channels. The rest of the park consists of dry land. I cum inside the park has 10 different types of vegetation: “selva espinosa", swampland,

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

, sub tropical broadleaf,

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

, “bosque de galleria”, “tular”, palm trees, and coastal dunes. 246 species of flowers and 189 species of animals have been documented so far in the park. Birds such as

storks Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons an ...

herons The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...

, wild ducks,

blue-winged teal The blue-winged teal (''Spatula discors'') is a species of bird in the duck, goose, and swan family Anatidae. One of the smaller members of the dabbling duck group, it occurs in North America, where it breeds from southern Alaska to Nova Scoti ...

pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before s ...

s, and spoonbills can be found here. Three species of turtles also visit the park to lay their eggs. There are boat tours to observe the shores, mangroves and the many birds that fish these waters. These tours usually include a stop to sample the local food and to visit a crocodile nursery which raises several Mexican Pacific coast crocodiles (

Crocodylus acutus ''Crocodylus'' is a genus of true crocodiles in the family Crocodylidae. Taxonomy The generic name, ''Crocodylus'', was proposed by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768. ''Crocodylus'' contains 13–14 extant (living) species and 5 extinct spec ...

References

External links

Official Website
{{authority control Chacahua National parks of Mexico Protected areas of Oaxaca Ramsar sites in Mexico Pacific Coast of Mexico Landforms of Oaxaca Southern Pacific dry forests

See also

References

External links