Uramba Bahía Málaga National Natural Park, is one of the newest Colombian national parks and a popular

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...

destination. It is located in and around Málaga Bay on the Colombian Pacific coast in the municipality of Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca,

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 ...

. It is an area of high biodiversity and a favorite spot for reproducing humpback whales, making this area a popular

whale watching Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins ( cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. 2 ...

destination. Most of natural area is pristine with the exception of the areas around a few small towns like Juanchaco, Ladrilleros, and La Barra, as well as a Colombian naval base. The national park was created in 2010 and is Colombia's 56th national natural park.

Geography

The protected area is composed of of coastal land and marine areas.

Biodiversity

The ecosystems found within the protected area include wet tropical forest, transitional forest, flooded forest, mangroves, estuaries, beaches, and

pelagic zone The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or wa ...

s. The main animal of interest in this area is the

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...

(''Megaptera novaeangliae''). The whales use the waters of this protected area to raise calves between June and October. It is said that this area has the largest concentration of breeding humpbacks along the Colombian Pacific coast.

References

External links

Welcome to Bahía Málaga!
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uramba Bahia Malaga National Natural Park National parks of Colombia Geography of Valle del Cauca Department Tourist attractions in Valle del Cauca Department