Médanos de Coro National Park (''Parque Nacional Los Médanos de Coro'') is a Venezuelan

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 state of Falcón, near the city of

Coro Coro or CORO may refer to: Entertainment * ''Coro'' (Berio), a composition by Luciano Berio * Coro (music), Italian for choir * Coro TV, Venezuelan community television channel * Omweso (Coro), mancala game played in the Lango region of Uganda * ...

on the road that leads to Paraguaná. The National Park was created in 1974. The park is easily reached by bus or taxi from Coro. The Médanos park protects part of the

Paraguana xeric scrub The Paraguana xeric scrub (NT1313) is an ecoregion in Venezuela to the north and east of Lake Maracaibo and along the coast of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. The region holds flora and fauna adapted to the very dry conditions of the coastal dunes ...

ecoregion. It lies on the

Médanos Isthmus The Médanos Isthmus is a sandy isthmus in Venezuela that connects the Paraguaná Peninsula with the rest of Falcón State. The isthmus is approximately 6 km (3.73 miles) wide and 27 km (16.78 miles) long. It is the site of the Médanos ...

and covers of desert and coastal habitat, including salt marshes. It is made up of three zones: an alluvial plain, formed by the delta of the

Mitare River The Mitare River ( es, Mitare River) is a river in northwestern Venezuela. The Mitare River flows through the Paraguana xeric scrub ecoregion. In its delta it divides into the Pedregal and Paraíso rivers, which empty into the gulf of Coro on th ...

and some smaller streams; an aeolian plain, composed of three types of dunes; and a littoral plain with a belt of mangrove swamps. The massive sand dunes, known as Médanos, spread over an area of approximately . They can reach in height and are constantly transformed by the unrelenting wind. Rainfall is rare. However, during the severe floods that struck Venezuela in December 1999 (" Vargas tragedy", being especially devastating in Vargas State), the heavy rain formed four lagoons in the dunes; a circumstance that the park guards had never witnessed before.

Flora and fauna

Flora consists of little more than thorny shrubs. The park is an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

with some 21 species including Yellow-shouldered amazon.

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

(2001)
Important Bird Areas factsheet: Parque Nacional Médanos de Coro
Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 03/02/2015 Other fauna is scarce; the park is home mainly to lizards, rabbits, anteaters and foxes. Visitors can wander amongst the dunes by camel (imported many years ago).

References

External links

Los Medanos
National parks of Venezuela Deserts of Venezuela Dunes of Venezuela Important Bird Areas of Venezuela Protected areas established in 1974 Tourist attractions in Falcón 1974 establishments in Venezuela Geography of Falcón {{Venezuela-geo-stub