The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha'') is an isolated mountain range in northern

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 ...

, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of just from the Caribbean coast, the Sierra Nevada is the highest coastal range in the tropics, and one of the highest coastal ranges in the world, being shorter than the Saint Elias Mountains in Canada. The Sierra Nevada encompasses about and serves as the source of 36 rivers. The range is in the Departments of Magdalena,

Cesar Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * Ces ...

and La Guajira. The highest point of the Sierra Nevada group (and Colombia in general) may be either

Pico Cristóbal Colón Pico Cristóbal Colón is the highest mountain in Colombia, with an estimated height of . Pico Cristóbal Colón and Pico Simón Bolívar are the two highest peaks in Colombia and are equal in elevation. One or the other of these peaks is therefo ...

or Pico Simón Bolívar, both in the municipalities of

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta ("Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta"), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena ...

and Aracataca; it has yet to be determined which is higher.

SRTM The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is an international research effort that obtained digital elevation models on a near-global scale from 56°S to 60°N, to generate the most complete high-resolution digital topographic database of Ea ...

data and local topographic maps show that their true elevations are approximately , lower than the elevation that is often quoted. The Sierra Nevada is a compact group, relatively small in area, and completely surrounded by lands with elevations below . Although it is associated with the

Tropical Andes The Tropical Andes is northern of the three climate-delineated parts of the Andes, the others being the Dry Andes and the Wet Andes. The Tropical Andes' area spans . Geography and ecology file:Andes_clima.png, 200px, Map of the climatic regions ...

, the main backbone of the Andes cannot be reached from the Sierra Nevada without dropping below this level. This makes its highest point the world's fifth most prominent summit. Several peaks in the Sierra Nevada are intervisible with Cerro Paramillo, a peak in

Antioquia Department ) , anthem = Himno de Antioquia , image_map = Antioquia in Colombia (mainland).svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Antioquia shown in red , image_ma ...

. This implies a theoretical direct line of sight of just over , reported to be the longest between any two points on the surface of the Earth.

Climate

It is calculated that the yearly average rainfall is at elevations of . The temperature varies between .

Biodiversity

The tropical rainforest is made up of perennial trees, with a canopy reaching between . There is a great variety and large populations of

epiphyte An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

s and

liana A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ta ...

s, and more than 3,000 species of vascular plants are found in the area. The indigenous peoples made an alcoholic beverage from fruits of the palm ''

Attalea maripa ''Attalea maripa'', commonly called maripa palm is a palm native to tropical South America and Trinidad and Tobago. It grows up tall and can have leaves or fronds long. This plant has a yellow edible fruit which is oblong ovoid and cream. An e ...

'' found at the lower elevations. Of Colombia's 340 endemic species, 44 are found in the park, for example seven species of endemic hummingbirds. Of the 3,057 endangered species, 44 are found here. The area is home to 440 species of birds, including

black-fronted wood-quail The black-fronted wood quail (''Odontophorus atrifrons'') is a bird species in the family Odontophoridae, the New World quail. It is found in Colombia and Venezuela. Taxonomy and systematics Some authors have suggested that the black-fronted w ...

, king vulture, Andean condor,

Santa Marta warbler The Santa Marta warbler (''Myiothlypis basilica'') is a species of bird in the family Parulidae. It is endemic to the Santa Marta Mountains in Colombia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and heavily degraded ...

and

Santa Marta parakeet The Santa Marta parakeet (''Pyrrhura viridicata'') is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae. It is endemic to Colombia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. Foraging b ...

. Mammals found in the park include: tapir,

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 ...

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...

, ''

Transandinomys talamancae ''Transandinomys talamancae'' is a rodent in the family Cricetidae that occurs from Costa Rica to southwestern Ecuador and northern Venezuela. Its habitat consists of lowland forests up to above sea level. With a body mass of , it is a medium-s ...

'',

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

, and

brocket deer Brockets or brocket deer are the species of deer in the genus ''Mazama''. They are medium to small in size, and are found in the Yucatán Peninsula, Central and South America, and the island of Trinidad. Most species are primarily found in forest ...

. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is home to a number of ecoregions, which vary with elevation. The

Guajira–Barranquilla xeric scrub The Guajira–Barranquilla xeric scrub is a xeric shrubland ecoregion in Colombia, Venezuela, and the ABC Islands (Leeward Antilles), covering an estimated area of . Rainfall varies from , and the median temperature is . Location The ecoregio ...

region lies near the Caribbean seacoast to the north of the range. The

Sinú Valley dry forests The Sinú Valley dry forests (NT0229) is an ecoregion in the north of Colombia. Geography Location The Sinú Valley is an area of . located within the zone of parallel, north-northeast trending hills that lies between the low-point Magdalena ...

cover the range's lower slopes, up to an elevation of . The

Santa Marta montane forests The Santa Marta montane forests (NT0159) is an ecoregion in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a massif on the Caribbean coast of northern Colombia. The ecoregion covers altitudes from near sea level up to around , where it gives way to Santa Marta ...

lie above . The montane forests are separated from other moist forests by the lower-elevation dry forests and xeric shrublands, and have large numbers of endemic species. The montane forest ecoregion has several distinct plant communities, distinguished by altitude and rainfall; moist lowland forests cover the windward northern and western flanks of the range between , and the drier eastern and southern flanks from . Above is a transitional forest zone of smaller trees and palms.

Cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

s occur above ; the Sub-Andean forests from form a canopy tall, while the higher-elevation Andean forests, between , grow to in height. The Santa Marta Páramo, a high altitude belt of montane grasslands and shrublands interspersed with marshes and acid bogs, occupies the zone between . The Santa Marta Páramo is the northernmost enclave of

Páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

in South America, which occur along the Andes belt. Above lies the permanent snow cap.

National Natural Park

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Natural Park ( es, Parque Nacional Natural Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta) is

's second oldest

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 ...

, established in 1964. It is located in the Cordillera Oriental range, between the departments of La Guajira, Magdalena and

, in the mountain range of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. It is a sanctuary as well as a tourist attraction, because it offers different climate, terrain, flora and fauna environments, ranging from beaches to snowy mountain peaks. Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Natural Park is considered a unique place in the world, due to its isolation from the Andes, and its highest peak ( above sea level) is located just away from the sea. All the water courses that originate in the national park drain to the Caribbean sea whether directly (e. g. rivers Ranchería, Don Diego, Palomino, Buritaca, Guachaca, Cañas, etc.) or through the Magdalena River system that includes the

Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta The Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta (Spanish for Large Marsh of Saint Martha) is the largest of the swampy marshes located in Colombia between the Magdalena River and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. It has an area of 4280 km2 and belongs to the ...

, (e.g. rivers

, Ariguaní, Fundación, Frío, Aracataca, etc.). Roughly 1.2 million people are dependent upon the freshwater supplied by the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta rivers. There are currently about 30,000 indigenous people of the ethnic groups

Koguis The Kogi ( ), or Cogui, or Kágaba, meaning " jaguar" in the Kogi language, are an indigenous group that resides in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in northern Colombia. Their culture has continued since the Pre-Columbian era. Lang ...

Arhuacos The Arhuaco are an indigenous people of Colombia. They are Chibchan-speaking people and descendants of the Tairona culture, concentrated in northern Colombia in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Name The Arhuaco are also known as the Aruaco, B ...

Kankuamos The Kankuamo, Kankuaka, Kankui or Kankuané are an indigenous people of Colombia, living on the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta up until the north of the César department ( corregimientos: Atánquez, Guatapurí, Chemesqueme ...

and Wiwa living in the area. This park is also home to the remnants of the Tairona Culture. In 1979, the park was designated a Biosphere reserve by UNESCO. A 2013 report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature on the world's most irreplaceable protected areas identified the park as the most irreplaceable park in the world for threatened species.

Geology

It is composed of Cretaceous metamorphic rocks (predominantly schists and gneisses) and quartzdioritic intrusives of Tertiary age. The

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is mainly represented by

colluvial Colluvium (also colluvial material or colluvial soil) is a general name for loose, unconsolidated sediments that have been deposited at the base of hillslopes by either rainwash, sheetwash, slow continuous downslope creep, or a variable combinati ...

- alluvial valley fill and by recent beach deposits. The coastlines of the northwestern part of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta are indented, reflecting the alternation of rocky headlands and deep, north-northwest trending tectonically controlled bays. The headlands are typically cliffs cut into schists and granites, whereas the embayments front alluvial valley deposits. The bay shores are typically steep, reflective beaches composed of very coarse sand to granules eroded from adjacent cliffs and alluvial deposits. Wide pocket beaches and tombolos are common along sectors with abundant rocky erosional remnants and stacks.

Fauna

Three species of reptiles which are native to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta are named after it: ''

Anolis santamartae ''Anolis santamartae'', the Santa Marta anole, is a species of lizard in the family Dactyloidae. The species is found in Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in ...

'', a lizard; '' Atractus sanctaemartae'', a snake; and '' Lepidoblepharis sanctaemartae'', a lizard.

Inhabitants

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is home to the remnants of the Native American Tairona Culture;

, Wiwas and

, that live in ''Resguardos Indigenas'' (indigenous reserves) located in the mid-highlands.

Recent access problems

For the last ten years, access to the highest summits has been very difficult, and this situation continues

although there is a documented ascent of

in December 2015. This was due to opposition from locals in the southern side of the mountain to aid and allow climbers to explore the place. Their aid and permission is important for success in the summit. Colombian conflict, Armed turmoil has also proven to hinder access to the place, notwithstanding the peace process carried on since 2016. The only safe and relatively straight forward access is from Santa Marta city to Cuchillo de San Lorenzo, but that is only to (although it provides excellent views of the peaks).

References

External links

*http://www.colombia.com/colombiainfo/parquesnaturales/sierranevada.asp * * * * *
Case study by Fundación Pró-Sierra Nevada de Santa MartaThe Guardian
com: "The Lure of Colombia's Lost City" (2009)]
Royal Geography Society − Hidden Journeys project: "Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta − Sampling the food cultures of northern Colombia with hungry cyclist Tom Kevill-Davies"
— ''audio slideshow''. {{authority control Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta,

National parks of Colombia Geography of Cesar Department Geography of La Guajira Department Geography of Magdalena Department Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Biosphere reserves of Colombia Protected areas established in 1964 1964 establishments in Colombia Ecoregions of Colombia Páramos Tourist attractions in Cesar Department Tourist attractions in La Guajira Department Tourist attractions in Magdalena Department Magdalena River World Heritage Tentative List for Colombia