Tayrona

Declared in 1969, it protects a stretch of Colombian Caribbean coast where the rainforest runs straight down to white-sand beaches and coral reefs, an unusual geographical contrast which on clear days also allows the Caribbean Sea and the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to be seen at once, a short distance apart. The area preserves archaeological remains of the indigenous Tayrona peoples, ancestors of today's Kogui, Wiwa and Arhuaco communities of the neighbouring sierra, who still hold much of this coast sacred.