Serranía de Chiribiquete

Serranía de Chiribiquete National Natural Park was established in 1989 in southern Colombia, between the departments of Caquetá and Guaviare, and has been extended on several occasions to more than 43,000 km², which makes it the largest national park in the country and one of the largest protected areas of tropical rainforest in the world. UNESCO inscribed it on the World Heritage List in 2018 as a mixed property.

Its geological signature is the tepuis: sandstone table mountains of the Guiana Shield that rise above the forest with vertical walls, isolated from one another for millions of years, each with its own endemic flora and fauna. That condition as biological islands explains a very high biodiversity that is still poorly known.

The cultural component is exceptional. In the rock shelters of the tepuis, tens of thousands of rock paintings in red ochre have been documented — jaguars, tapirs, deer, hunting and dancing scenes, human figures — with dates pointing to an antiquity of thousands of years and a very long continuity of use. The park is also the territory of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation, which has led to it being kept entirely closed to public access: tourist visits are not permitted. The threats come from deforestation on its fringes, extensive cattle ranching and the spread of illicit crops.