Travel Guide Parque Nacional Darién

The Darien National Park covers a large part of the province of the same name. It is here that you will be able to go up rivers in dugout canoes, cross boats loaded with a thousand and one goods and make splendid walks in the jungle. Created in 1980, it is the largest protected area of the country (579 000 hectares). This sanctuary, located between the north and south of the American continent, covers one third of the province of Darien and is adjacent to the Los Katíos National Park (72,000 hectares), located in the north of Colombia, in the departments of Antioquia and Chocó. Its tropical forests of mountain or swampy plains, its mangroves and its coastline allow the presence of a fauna and flora of great richness, with a very important rate of endemism. There are 533 species of birds and 169 species of mammals, including the Baird's tapir, the giant anteater, the jaguar and the puma. The Darien National Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 and has been a Biosphere Reserve since 1983, demonstrating the exceptional importance of the area from a biological point of view. Unfortunately, despite this international recognition, this biological paradise is threatened by agricultural pressure and logging and mining. The financial and human means are not sufficient to ensure the effective control of such a vast area, which is also the scene of numerous traffics. Human trafficking (thousands of Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian, African or Asian migrants on their way to the United States), and trafficking in cocaine produced in Colombia. MiAmbiente agents are in charge of protecting the forest, in collaboration with the staff of the NGO Ancon. But the best guarantee for the preservation of this wild space is undoubtedly the presence of the Amerindian populations. Because of their way of life and their spiritual relationship with the Tierra Madre, the Emberá, Wounaan and Guna know that they are the first victims of the destruction of nature. Their way of life and their beliefs have evolved (clothing, arrival of electricity, motor for the dugout, implantation of evangelist churches...), but their respect for plants, animals and rivers has remained intact for most of them. The responsibility of maintaining this fragile balance also falls to the traveler, who must show the same respect, both towards nature and towards the indigenous and afro-descendant communities who live there.