Cerro Cora National Park

Cerro Corá covers around 5,500 hectares in Amambay where isolated sandstone hills rise from savanna, and it protects one of the better remaining examples of cerrado in Paraguay along with gallery forest along the Aquidaban river. Caves in the hills carry petroglyphs, geometric and figurative marks of uncertain age, and the Itaguy Guasu cave is the best known. Cerro Muralla and Cerro Cora itself can be climbed for views over the savanna. The park also holds a set of monuments marking events of 1870 at the close of the nineteenth-century war, which is the association most Paraguayans make with the name. Trails run from the ranger station.

History

The last battle of the Paraguayan War was fought here on 1 March 1870, by the Aquidabán Nigui brook, where Francisco Solano López died. The area, once virgin rainforest, had suffered deforestation, and the national park was established on 11 February 1976; it covers 5,538 hectares among hills such as Ponta Porá, Guazu and Cerro Corá itself (Wikipedia, Cerro Corá National Park).

Highlights

• The isolated hills - the sandstone outcrops rising from savanna.
• Cave petroglyphs - the carved marks in Itaguy Guasu and other caves.
• Cerrado vegetation - the savanna type protected in the park.
• The Aquidaban - the river and its gallery forest.

When to go

April to October in the cooler dry season for the trails and the climbs; summer heat on the open savanna is heavy. Mornings are best. The park is quiet on weekdays.

Things to know

Facilities are a ranger station and basic trails. Petroglyphs need a guide to find and interpret. Signage is limited. The park is a long way from the main tourist routes.

Nearby

Pedro Juan Caballero lies east; Concepcion is southwest.

Key facts