Amacayacu National Park

Amacayacu protects a large block of rainforest on the north bank of the Amazon between Leticia and Puerto Narino, where the river floods deep into the trees for half the year and drains back out for the other half. Walking trails, canoe routes through flooded forest, night walks and canopy visits are run with guides from the Ticuna communities at Mocagua and San Martin, who live along the park boundary. Wildlife includes several monkey species, among them the tiny pygmy marmoset, plus caiman, macaws and, in the river channels, pink and grey dolphins. The main visitor centre was damaged by flooding years ago and facilities remain limited.

History

In 1970 Julia Allen Field, the American founder of Amazonia 2000, asked Colombia's natural resources institute INDERENA to protect the forest and its jaguars around La Manigua, the research station she had built on the Cothué River. In 1975 INDERENA's director Julio Carrizosa created Amacayacu National Park, about 4,220 square kilometres of forest, and banned hunting for the skin trade; on 30 September 1975, at Tarapacá, the park and a ban on logging were announced, and the forestry chief told Field that her name was written across the map (Wikipedia, Amacayacu National Park).

What's there

• Flooded forest by canoe - paddling between tree trunks at high water.
• Monkeys - several species including the pygmy marmoset near the villages.
• Night walks - frogs, insects and caiman eyes along the water's edge.
• Community guiding - Ticuna guides from Mocagua and San Martin.

When to go

High water from roughly December to May floods the forest and lets canoes go where you would otherwise walk; low water from June to October exposes river beaches and makes trails and wildlife easier. Both work, they simply give different trips. Arrange guides and lodging through the communities before leaving Leticia rather than turning up unannounced.

Practical notes

Park infrastructure is limited after flood damage, so this is not a place with a visitor centre and marked loops; almost everything runs through community lodging and guides, in Spanish. It is hot, humid and full of insects, rain is possible on any day, and wildlife sightings are never guaranteed. Boat transfers are expensive and run to fixed early morning schedules.

Nearby

Puerto Narino and Lake Tarapoto upstream, Leticia and the three-country river junction downstream.

Key facts