Puinawai Natural Reserve ( es, Reserva Nacional Natural Puinawai) is the second-largest

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

in Colombia. This protected area occupies of the Amazon Region of Colombia, roughly 15% of the

Guainía Department Guainía (; Yuri language: "Land of many waters") is a department of Eastern Colombia. It is in the east of the country, bordering Venezuela and Brazil. Its capital is Inírida. In 1963 Guainía was split off from Vaupés department. The nort ...

. The Reserve was created in September 1989 and coincides with three important indigenous territories that were also formed at the same time. Several rivers cross the Natural Reserve belonging to the Amazon River basin: The Cuyari, Isana and Guainía River. And belonging to the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wo ...

basin, the

Inírida River The Inírida (, Spanish: Río Inírida) is a river in the north-west of South America, in the territory of Colombia, the largest tributary of the Guaviare (the Orinoco River basin). The length of the river is , of which are navigable for small ...

. The Natural Reserve lies between altitude of above sea level and its climate is hot and humid with little seasonal variations throughout the year.

Ecosystem

The area of the Puinawai Natural Reserve mainly consists of humid tropical rainforest. However, there are also tropical open savanna and transitional zones. Pressure from deforestation has so far remained relatively small, due to its inaccessibility and low population density. According to Colombia's national park services, 1% of Puinawai has been deforested. There are 419 endemic plant species in the natural reserve, 176 of which are

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 els ...

in the whole

Guyana Shield The Guiana Shield (french: Plateau des Guyanes, Bouclier guyanais; nl, Hoogland van Guyana, Guianaschild; pt, Planalto das Guianas, Escudo das Guianas; es, Escudo guayanés) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1 ...

. The reserve is also rich in fauna with many local species that were preserved also due to the local indigenous tribes practicing a sustainable co-existence with the local environment. The Puinawai Natural Reserve is not open to the public.Estado del Parque: Cerrado al público

References

National parks of Colombia Protected areas established in 1989 1989 establishments in Colombia Geography of Guainía Department {{Colombia-geo-stub