The Puracé National Natural Park ( es, Parque Nacional Natural Puracé) 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

Andean Region of Colombia The Andean region, located in central Colombia, is the most populated natural region of Colombia. With many mountains, the Andes contain most of the country's urban centers.Popayán Popayán () is the capital of the Colombian departments of Colombia, department of Cauca Department, Cauca. It is located in southwestern Colombia between the Cordillera Occidental (Colombia), Western Mountain Range and Cordillera Central (Colo ...

in the Cordillera Central range. Its main feature is the active

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...

Puracé Puracé is an andesitic stratovolcano located in the Puracé National Natural Park in the Cauca Department, Colombia. It is part of the North Volcanic Zone of the Andean Volcanic Belt. The volcano is located at the intersection of the Coconucos ...

, one of Colombia's most active volcanoes. Four of the country's most important rivers originate within the area:

Magdalena River The Magdalena River ( es, Río Magdalena, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of ...

Cauca River The Cauca River () is a river in Colombia that lies between the Occidental and Central cordilleras. From its headwaters in southwestern Colombia near the city of Popayán, it joins the Magdalena River near Magangue in Bolivar Department, and th ...

Japurá River The Japurá River or Caquetá River is a river about long in the Amazon basin. It rises in Colombia and flows eastward through Brazil to join the Amazon River. Course The river rises as the Caquetá River in the Andes in southwest Colombia. Th ...

and

Patía River The Patía River () is a river in southwestern Colombia. It flows over to drain into the Pacific Ocean north of Tumaco. The Patía River is the longest river on the Colombian Pacific Coast. The last is navigable by boat. Geography The Patía ...

General

It was established in 1961 as the first national park in the

Cauca Department Cauca Department (, es, Departamento del Cauca) is a Department of Southwestern Colombia. Located in the southwestern part of the country, facing the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Valle del Cauca Department to the north, Tolima Department t ...

. During the 1990s the FARC guerrilla used the park as a base camp, but it has been cleaned of the forces since 2002 after the

President of Colombia The president of Colombia ( es, Presidente de Colombia), officially known as the president of the Republic of Colombia ( es, Presidente de la República de Colombia) or president of the nation ( es, Presidente de la Nacion) is the head of stat ...

Álvaro Uribe Álvaro Uribe Vélez (born 4 July 1952) is a Colombian politician who served as the 31st President of Colombia from 7 August 2002 to 7 August 2010. Uribe started his political career in his home department of Antioquia. He held offices in t ...

's campaign against the movement. The only active

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

in the area is Puracé at

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. In addition there are two higher volcanoes, Azúcar at and Coconuco at , and four more with and elevation between and . The way to get to the park is through Popayán, capital of the Department of Cauca, which can be reached by the Pan-American highway that connects the country from north to south. Then take the road to the town of Puracé, located at the foot of the volcano. It is 44 km long and takes about an hour. The road is in good condition. From Puracé you continue to a point called "El Crucero", and then - 1 km further - to the beautiful recreational area of Pilimbalá, in the northern sector of the volcano. Or the park can also be reached from the old Colombian police base located at 4000 meters above sea level which can be accessed by vehicle after passing through the Puracé's sulphur mines. Starting from Pilimabalá at a medium pace and with good weather, it can take 3 ½ h to ascend to the crater. If the ascent is made via the military base the journey is much shorter and may take around 1 ½ to 2 h.

Climate

The highest daytime temperatures are between , and the coldest nighttime temperatures below freezing. The average yearly rainfall is and tend to decrease as elevation increases. Frost occurs frequently above and almost daily above .

Flora and fauna

Over 200

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

s and nationally threatened species such as the Colombian Pine, Andean Oak, Wax palm tree are found in the park. It is home to over 160 species of birds, of which

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

birds of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predators ...

are the most dominating. Several mammals are found in the park: spectacled bear,

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 of tapir. It is the only one to live outside of tropical rainforests in the wild. It is most easily d ...

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

pudú The pudus (Mapudungun ''püdü'' or ''püdu'', es, pudú, ) are two species of South American deer from the genus ''Pudu'', and are the world's smallest deer. The chevrotains (mouse-deer; Tragulidae) are smaller, but they are not true deer. The ...

as well 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 ...

that the

San Diego Zoo The San Diego Zoo is a zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, housing 4000 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies on of Balboa Park leased from the City of San Diego. Its parent organization, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, is a p ...

helped to reintroduce in the 1990s. The lower elevation forests are home to four primates:

woolly monkey The woolly monkeys are the genus ''Lagothrix'' of New World monkeys, usually placed in the family Atelidae. Both species in this genus originate from the rainforests of South America. They have prehensile tails and live in relatively large soci ...

howler monkey Howler monkeys (genus ''Alouatta'', monotypic in subfamily Alouattinae) are the most widespread primate genus in the Neotropics and are among the largest of the platyrrhines along with the muriquis (''Brachyteles''), the spider monkeys (''Ateles' ...

gray-bellied night monkey The gray-bellied night monkey (''Aotus lemurinus''), also called the grey-legged douroucouli tufted capuchin The tufted capuchin (''Sapajus apella''), also known as brown capuchin, black-capped capuchin, or pin monkey is a New World primate from South America and the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Margarita. As traditionally defined, it is one of th ...

Gallery

File:Putrace National Park (Columbia 1).jpg, File:Purace national Parc (Columbia 2).jpg, File:Purace National Parc (Columbia 3).jpg, File:Purace National Parc (Columbia 4).jpg, File:Purace National Parc (Columbia 5).jpg, File:Purace National Parc (Columbia 6).jpg,

Communities

The park's area serves as an indigenous reservation for the Cocunuco ethnic group, in the Pilimbalá sector, where the same community offers comfortable lodging and typical food. There is also an indigenous

Guambiano Guambiano or Misak are an indigenous people of the department of Cauca in Colombia. he Drama of Life Guambiano Life Cycle Customs , author=Judith Branks, Juan B. Sanchez , publisher- SIL International, date=1978 , pages= 107 Their language is k ...

settlement.

Footnotes

References

* *

External links

The park's page at Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia

Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Popayán
*
Information about Puracé in the Global Volcanism Program
' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Purace National Natural Park National parks of Colombia Protected areas established in 1961 Geography of Cauca Department 1961 establishments in Colombia Tourist attractions in Cauca Department Páramos