Cutervo National Park

Cutervo was declared in 1961, the first national park in Peru, and the reason was specific: the Cueva de los Guácharos, a cave in the Tarros hills holding a colony of oilbirds. The guácharo is a nocturnal fruit-eating bird that roosts in caves, navigates in the dark by echolocation - one of very few birds that do - and leaves at night to feed on palm fruit, and the colony here was being harvested for the oil rendered from fat chicks, which is where the name comes from. The park has since been expanded to protect around eight thousand hectares of cloud forest and páramo holding spectacled bear, mountain tapir, and a substantial bird list including cock-of-the-rock. Access is by road to San Andrés and then trails; the cave requires a guide and a torch, and the birds are sensitive to light and disturbance, so visits are managed and restricted.

History

After the 8th Pan-American Conference in Lima in 1938, a national nature protection committee was founded, and the Cultural Federation of Cutervo proposed a park here that was at first turned down. The biologist Salomón Vílchez Murga, deputy for Cajamarca, carried the law creating the park, passed on 8 September 1961 with 2,500 hectares; a law of 3 August 2006 enlarged it to 8,214 hectares (Wikipedia, Cutervo National Park).

The landscape

• The oilbird cave - the guácharo colony the park was created to protect.
• The echolocation - one of the few bird species that navigates by sound in the dark.
• The cloud forest - around eight thousand hectares with bear and tapir present.
• The 1961 designation - Peru's first national park.

When to go

May to September for trail conditions, though cloud forest is wet year-round. Cave visits are managed and need a guide. A day or two.

Practical notes

Oilbirds are highly sensitive to light and disturbance - visits are limited and flash photography is prohibited. Muddy trails and constant damp. Guides and registration are needed. Very few visitors and minimal infrastructure.

Nearby

Cutervo town is the base; Chota and the Cajamarca highlands are south.

Key facts