Lauca National Park is located in Chile's far north, in the

Andean The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...

range. It encompasses an area of 1,379 km² of

altiplano The Altiplano (Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechua and Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla") or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extensive high plateau on Earth outside Tibet. The plateau is located at the ...

and mountains, the latter consisting mainly of enormous volcanoes.

Las Vicuñas National Reserve Las Vicuñas National Reserve is a nature reserve located in the Parinacota Province, Arica y Parinacota Region, Chile. The reserve lies immediately south of Lauca National Park and in its southern portion is contiguous to Salar de Surire Natura ...

is its neighbour to the south. Both protected areas, along with

Salar de Surire Natural Monument Salar de Surire Natural Monument is a Chilean Natural Monument located in the Andes, in the Arica y Parinacota Region. It consists mainly of a salt flat and a number of small salt lakes, sheltering several Andean species of wildlife and plants. ...

, form Lauca Biosphere Reserve. The park borders

Sajama National Park Sajama National Park is a national park located in the Oruro Department, Bolivia. It borders Lauca National Park in Chile. The park is home to the indigenous Aymara people, whose influential ancient culture can be seen in various aspects throu ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Position

The park is located east of

Arica Arica ( ; ) is a Communes of Chile, commune and a port city with a population of 222,619 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica y Parinacota Region. It is Chile's northernmost city, being located only south of the border with Peru. The ...

and west of

Putre Putre is a Chilean town and commune, capital of the Parinacota Province in the Arica-Parinacota Region. It is located east of Arica, at an altitude of . The town is backdropped by Taapaca volcanic complex. Putre is on the edge of the Lauca Na ...

, between 18°03' S - 18°27' S and 69°02' W - 69°39' W, and to msnm.Lauca
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Geography

One of the main attractions of the park is the small lacustrine area formed by Chungará and Cotacotani lakes, which lies at the foothills of the

Payachata Payachata or Paya Chata (Aymara ''pä, paya'' two, Pukina ''chata'' mountain, "two mountains") is a north–south trending complex of potentially active volcanos on the border of Bolivia and Chile, directly north of Chungará Lake. The complex c ...

volcanic group A volcanic group is a stratigraphic group consisting of volcanic strata. They can be in the form of volcanic fields, volcanic complexes and cone A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequ ...

. Other majestic volcanoes forming part of the national park are the

Guallatiri Guallatiri is a high volcano in Chile. It is located southwest of the Nevados de Quimsachata volcanic group and is sometimes considered to be part of that group. It is a stratovolcano with numerous fumaroles around the summit. The summit may b ...

and the Acotango. Lauca features include archaeological sites, lava fields and volcanic calderas. Within the park is located the town of

Parinacota Parinacota (in hispanicized spelling), Parina Quta or Parinaquta (Aymara, ''parina'' flamingo, ''quta'' lake, "flamingo lake", other hispanicized spellings ''Parinaccota, Parinajota'') may refer to: Lakes * Parinaquta (Carabaya), in Peru, Puno Re ...

with its colonial church. The headwaters of Lauca River are also found within the park and bordering it to the west is

Lluta River The Lluta River is a river located in the northern portion of the Arica y Parinacota Region of Chile. Its headwaters are on the western flanks of the Andes of the Parinacota Province, just a few kilometers south of the border with Peru, and empti ...

. The international

Chile Route 11 Chile Route 11 (Ruta 11 CH) is a main road in the northernmost portion of Chile. It runs east for from Chile Route 5 at a roundabout in Villa Frontera, Arica Province to Chungará–Tambo Quemado. The route serves as the main access to Quebrada d ...

passes through this protected area. It runs from

Chile Route 5 Chile Highway 5 or Route 5 known locally as ''Ruta 5'' is Chile's longest route, . It is part of the Pan-American Highway. Stretch It runs from the Peruvian border connecting with Peru Highway 1 north of Arica to Puerto Montt where it connects ...

in the vicinity of

to Tambo Quemado Pass and provides the main access to the park.

Biology

The park lies within the

Central Andean dry puna The Central Andean dry puna (NT1001) is an ecoregion in the Montane grasslands and shrublands biome, located in the Andean high plateau, in South America. It is a part of the Puna grassland. Setting This ecoregion occupies the southwestern portio ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

. Several species of animals and plants can be found in the park. Mammals in the area include

vicuña The vicuña (''Lama vicugna'') or vicuna (both , very rarely spelled ''vicugna'', its former genus name) is one of the two wild South American camelids, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes, the other being the guanaco, which live ...

llama The llama (; ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a List of meat animals, meat and pack animal by Inca empire, Andean cultures since the Pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with othe ...

alpaca The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can successfu ...

guanaco The guanaco (; ''Lama guanicoe'') is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids, the other being the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations. Etymology The guanaco g ...

s, tarucas,

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 ...

s and

vizcacha Viscacha or vizcacha (, ) are rodents of two genera (''Lagidium'' and ''Lagostomus'') in the family Chinchillidae. They are native to South America and convergently resemble rabbits. The five extant species of viscacha are: *The plains vis ...

s. There are over 140 bird species, making it one of the best national parks for birding in Chile. Those include

puna ibis The Puna ibis (''Plegadis ridgwayi'') is a species of bird in the family Threskiornithidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. Its natural habitats are swamps, marshes and lakes, and most of its range is in the Andean highlands, ...

Andean goose The Andean goose (''Chloephaga melanoptera'') is a species of waterfowl in tribe Tadornini of subfamily Anserinae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the bird ...

giant coot The giant coot (''Fulica gigantea'') is a species of bird in subfamily Rallinae of family Rallidae, the rails, gallinules, and coots. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds ...

puna tinamou The puna tinamou (''Tinamotis pentlandii'') also known as Pentland's tinamou, is a member of the most ancient groups of bird families, the tinamous. This species is native to southern South America.Clements, J. (2007) The binomial name of the spec ...

silvery grebe The silvery grebe (''Podiceps occipitalis'') is a species of grebe in the family Podicipedidae. It is found in the western and southern part of South America at altitudes of up to . Its natural habitat is freshwater lakes but it also feeds in sa ...

crested duck The crested duck or South American crested duck (''Lophonetta specularioides'') is a species of duck native to South America, the belonging to the monotypic genus ''Lophonetta''. It is sometimes included in ''Anas'', but it belongs to a South Am ...

puna teal The Puna teal (''Spatula puna'') is a species of dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. It was at one time regarded as a subspecies of the silver teal. The Puna teal is resident in the Andes of Peru, western Bolivia, northern Chile, and extreme ...

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 ...

and

Chilean flamingo The Chilean flamingo (''Phoenicopterus chilensis'') is a species of large flamingo at closely related to the American flamingo and the greater flamingo, with which it was sometimes considered conspecific. The species is listed as near threatened ...

. Over 400 species of

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...

s grow in Lauca National Park. The park's vegetation is adapted to the harsh puna environment, as are the bofedales, llaretales and Andean steppes. Image:Chungara Lake and Volcan Sajama Chile Luca Galuzzi 2006.jpg, Chungará Lake and Sajama stratovolcano File:Parinacota-village.JPG, The church in Parinacota village

References

;Citations ;Bibliography
Parque Nacional LaucaWorld Database on Protected Areas entry

External links

{{authority control National parks of Chile Protected areas established in 1970 Protected areas of Arica y Parinacota Region