Médanos de Coro National Park (''Parque Nacional Los Médanos de Coro'') is a

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

located in the state of

Falcón Falcón State (, ) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela. The state capital is Coro, Venezuela, Coro. The state was named after Juan Crisóstomo Falcón. History Early history Present day Falcón State was first explored ...

, near the city of Coro on the road that leads to Paraguaná. The National Park was created in 1974. The park is easily reached by bus or taxi from Coro. The Médanos park protects part of the Paraguana xeric scrub ecoregion. It lies on the Médanos Isthmus and covers of desert and coastal habitat, including salt marshes. It is made up of three zones: an alluvial plain, formed by the delta of the Mitare River and some smaller streams; an aeolian plain, composed of three types of dunes; and a littoral plain with a belt of mangrove swamps. The massive sand dunes, known as Médanos, spread over an area of approximately . They can reach in height and are constantly transformed by the unrelenting wind. Rainfall is rare. However, during the severe floods that struck Venezuela in December 1999 (" Vargas tragedy", being especially devastating in

Vargas State La Guaira State (), known until 2019 as Vargas State (, ), is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. Formerly named after Venezuela's first civilian president, José María Vargas, the state comprises a coastal region in the north of Venezuela, bord ...

), the heavy rain formed four lagoons in the dunes; a circumstance that the park guards had never witnessed before.

Flora and fauna

Flora consists of little more than thorny shrubs. The park is an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

with some 21 species including Yellow-shouldered amazon.

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

(2001)
Important Bird Areas factsheet: Parque Nacional Médanos de Coro
Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 03/02/2015 Other fauna is scarce; the park is home mainly to lizards, rabbits, anteaters and foxes. Visitors can wander amongst the dunes by camel (imported many years ago).

References

External links

Los Medanos
National parks of Venezuela Deserts of Venezuela Dunes of Venezuela Important Bird Areas of Venezuela Protected areas established in 1974 Tourist attractions in Falcón 1974 establishments in Venezuela Geography of Falcón {{Venezuela-geo-stub