National ParkPatrimonio Mundial UNESCO

Portobelo

Central America (Colón)Declared in 1976347 km²

Seventeenth-century Spanish colonial fortifications that guarded one of the most important gold and silver routes of the Spanish empire

Area

347 km²

Protection category

UICN II

Parque nacional — what the IUCN categories mean

Declared in

1976

Region

Central America (Colón)

Climate

Tropical

Rainforest World Heritage

Plan your visit

Area: 347 km²

Highlight

Seventeenth-century Spanish colonial fortifications that guarded one of the most important gold and silver routes of the Spanish empire

Declared in 1976, Portobelo combines rainforest with the ruins of 17th-century Spanish colonial fortifications, built to guard one of the most important ports for shipping gold and silver from the Spanish empire back to Europe, and sacked several times by pirates and privateers — Francis Drake among them, who died off its coast in 1596 and was buried at sea nearby. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980.

Location

See on the interactive map

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2 dive sites within 300 km are also shown.

87 species documented in Portobelo

24 Mammals11 Birds7 Reptiles5 Amphibians3 Cartilaginous fish14 Fish3 Anthozoa3 Malacostraca1 Arachnida3 Hydrozoa1 Gastropoda2 Echinoidea6 Insecta1 Demospongiae1 Polychaeta1 Scyphozoa1 Bivalvia

At conservation risk:Coral cuerno de alce,Tortuga carey,Tortuga verde,Aguja azul del Atlántico,Chucho pintado,Coral cerebro estriado,Manatí del Caribe,Mero guasa,Oncilla,Tarpón,Tiburón martillo gigante,Verrugosa (bushmaster)