Tabaconas Namballe Sanctuary

Tabaconas Namballe protects around 32,000 hectares in the far north of Cajamarca against the Ecuadorian border, and its significance is that it holds páramo - the wet high-altitude grassland ecosystem that is common in Ecuador and Colombia and reaches its southern limit here, in only a handful of Peruvian sites. Below it is cloud forest. The sanctuary is one of the few Peruvian protected areas holding mountain tapir, a species of a few thousand individuals globally and among the most threatened large mammals in South America, alongside spectacled bear, and the páramo lakes and wetlands feed rivers that supply the valleys below. Access is difficult - rough roads to Tabaconas or Namballe, then walking or horseback with community guides, with permission from the park service - and there is essentially no visitor infrastructure. Wildlife is present but sightings of tapir or bear are rare.

History

Forest studies in Jaén and San Ignacio in the 1940s led the government to set aside the Oso Perdido National Forest, and in 1977 part of a logging concession here was cancelled and 49 260 hectares reserved for research. La Molina National University proposed a sanctuary in 1982, studies for a spectacled bear reserve followed in 1987, and the sanctuary was established on 20 May 1988 (Wikipedia, Tabaconas Namballe National Sanctuary).

The landscape

• The páramo - the wet high grassland at its southern limit in the Andes.
• The cloud forest - the belt below, dense and constantly wet.
• The lakes - páramo wetlands feeding the rivers below.
• The species - mountain tapir and spectacled bear, both rarely seen.

When to go

May to September, though the páramo is wet year-round. Two to four days with community guides. Permission from SERNANP is required.

Practical notes

Very remote with no visitor infrastructure - guides, permission and self-sufficiency are all needed. Constant wet and cold in the páramo. Tapir and bear sightings are rare; this is habitat, not a wildlife-watching destination.

Nearby

San Ignacio is north-east; Jaén and the Marañón are south.

Key facts