Parque Natural Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, Chita o Guican | |
---|---|
Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, Chita o Guican National Natural Park | |
Location | Departments of Arauca, Boyacá and Casanare |
Nearest city | Tame, Arauca, Colombia |
Coordinates | 06°26′00″N 72°17′00″W / 6.43333°N 72.28333°W |
Area | 3,062 km2 (1,182 sq mi) |
Established | 1977 |
Governing body | SINAP |
The Sierra Nevada del Cocuy Chita or Guican National Natural Park (or Sierra Nevada de Chita or Sierra Nevada de Güicán, Spanish: Parque Natural Sierra Nevada del Cocuy Chita o Guican is a national park and a series of highlands and glaciated peaks located within the Cordillera Oriental mountain range in the Andes Mountains of Colombia, at its easternmost point. It also corresponds to the highest range of the Eastern Cordillera and holds the biggest glacial mass in South America, north of the Equator. Since 1977, this region is protected within a National Natural Park (NNP-Cocuy) because of its fragile páramos, extraordinary bio-diversity and endemism, and its function as a corridor for migratory species under conditions of climate change.[1] Among the Sierra’s natural attractions are the remaining 18 ice-covered peaks (there were as many as 25 in the recent past), glacial lakes and waterfalls.