A remote
park in
Colombia
Thomas R. Defler
Orinoco, and Tuparro rivers. In 1980 it was
increased to 548,000 ha and made a national
park, taking in land south of the Tuparro with the
old site of Maipures village and the beautiful
Maipures rapids on the Orinoco, described by the
explorer Alexander von Humboldt who spent
several days there in 1800.
Vegetation
The park's great flat expanses are 85 per cent
savanna and 15 per cent gallery forest. The
savanna is a complex mosaic of grasses and
sedges, its composition varying with drainage and
soil type. The common plants are the ubiquitous
fire-resistant trees Curatella americana and
Byrsonima crassifolia, and many grasses, notably
Trachypogon, Axonopus, Andropogon, and
Leptocoryphium spp, while walking is always
made difficult by the woody-rooted sedge Bulbosfylis sp. Some of the most beautiful large plants
are the typical palms of the llanos, the moriche
Mauritia flexuosa, whose thick stands, or
morichales, indicate swampy places.
In the half million hectares of the remote
El Tuparro National Park, on the Venezuelan frontier, the abundant wildlife
includes the Orinoco crocodile and a
good population of the endangered giant
otter. Hitherto access to the park has
been poor, and the only people are a few
settlers and Indians hunting with bows
and arrows, but new roads are bringing in The gallery forests are often shrubby, although
both new settlers and vehicle drivers with some well-developed forests have a tree canopy
of 25 m with emergents up to 35 m. But in general
guns.
Colombia is exceedingly rich in wildlife, with large
areas still practically unaltered by man. The
Government has so far set aside 31 areas
covering 4036,708 hectares (3-5 per cent of the
country) as part of an extensive park system. This
is administered by the Institute for Natural and
Renewable Resources and the Environment (INDERENA) which has plans to set aside more
areas as money is made available. Only two of the
national parks, Tyrona near Santa Marta and
Purace near Popayan and Cali, attract many
tourists due to their easy access and facilities.
Others are not yet physically protected although
this will come as they are developed for tourism.
the forest is not as well-stratified as the great
rainforest or 'selva' to the south. The poor growth
of the trees may be due to the extremely hot, dry
January-March season, for the rainfall of
between 2100-2600 mm is comparable to areas
in the middle of the closed-canopy selva. The
origin of many savannas such as the llanos is still
not well understood.
The flat terrain is relieved by small forested hills or
'cerros' which begin about 20 km from the
Orinoco and are part of the Guyana Shield.
These support attractive stands of the palm
Syagrus orinocoensis, which thrives in temperatures above 50°C when other plants are
dormant, waiting for the cooling rains of the wet
In 1977—82 I spent some five years in the season. The forests themselves contain palms
comparatively isolated and seldom visited park such as von Humboldt's 'most beautiful palm in
of El Tuparro, on the eastern llanos or plains the New World' Attalea regia, as well as Jessenia
near the Orinoco, studying the primates for polycarpa, and many spiny Bactris spp. Some
INDERENA's National Primate Program. This dicotyledenous species which the brown paleincluded four of the five species known to be fronted capuchin Cebus albifrons uses as food are
resident (Defler, 1979a, b, 1980). Created as a Ficus sp., Spondias mombin, Inga sp., Dipteryx
Faunistic Park in 1971, El Tuparro originally punctata, Oxandra espintana, Ceiba sp., Bursera
comprised 240,000 ha bounded by the Tomo, simarouba, Coupia chrysocalyx, and Parinari
A remote park in Colombia
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15
exelsa. A description of the vegetation types in the More difficult to see (although common in the
park) are Brazilian tapir Tapirus terrestris, jaguar
park has been published (Vincelli, 1981).
Panthera onca, puma Felis concolor, ocelot F.
pardalis, jaguarundi F. yagouarundi and one or
Birds, mammals and reptiles
two other small cats. Among the shy and/or nocThe most spectacular birds are the jabiru stork turnal animals are giant anteater Myrmecophaga
Jabiru mycteria, the very common red-and-green tridactyla, giant armadillo Priodontes maxim us,
macaw Ara chloroptera and the Guianan cock-of- paca Cuniculus paca, grey agouti Dasyprocta
the-rock Rupicola rupicola. The impressive black- fuhginosa, red brocket Mazama americana, and
and-white hawk eagle Spizastur melanoleucus bush dog Speothus venaticus. Bats, rodents and
and the ornate hawk eagle Spizaetus omatus are marsupials have been little studied but are well
not uncommon; the harpy eagle Harpia harpyia is represented.
rare. Several species of parrot are common and
there is a host of doves, hawks, herons, ibis and The many reptiles include a small population of
cracids.
the rare and endangered Orinoco crocodile
Five species of primates are resident: brown pale- Crocodylus intermedius, difficult but not
fronted capuchin Cebus albifrons, black-capped impossible to sight, spectacled caiman Caiman
capuchin C. apella, red howler monkey Alouatta crocodilus, abundant here but endangered
seniculus, widow monkey Callicebus torquatus, elsewhere, and two large snakes, both common,
and night monkey Aotus triuirgatus. Also to be anaconda Eunectes murinus, and boa Boa
seen are white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus constrictor. Giant river turtle Podocnemis
gymnotes, Amazon porpoise Inia geoffrensis, expansa is rare but several other Podocnemis are
crab-eating fox Dusicyon thous, collared peccary common, and the matamata Chelys fimbriata
Tayassu tajacu and tayra Eira barbara. Perhapsand the land tortoise Geochelone carbonaria
the greatest treat for any naturalist is the ease with occur.
which the endangered giant otter Pteronura Poaching is not a great problem. The few
brasiliensis can be seen; this may be one of the nomadic Guahibo Indians living in the park have
healthiest populations in Colombia, and El no guns. They hunt and fish with bows and
Tuparro would be a fine place to study its habits. arrows, and their use of the plant poison barbasco
Map of El Tuparro National Park.
16
OryxVol 17No 1
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to kill fish in small streams is not a major problem
so long as their numbers remain small. A few
Venezuelan hunters enter illegally for the came
de monte (forest meat) they can sell for high
prices in Puerto Ayacucho, in Venezuela, the
capital of the Federal Amazon Territory. Fortunately the worst known offender in this regard
was recently apprehended and his equipment
confiscated. He has, however, returned to poaching with completely new equipment; I saw him on
the Tomo River in January 1982.
The future
Future problems for the park are likely to be of
two kinds. First, few colonists were in this isolated
area when the Territory was founded, but a new
road has allowed more to move in, up to the
western, southern and northern borders. The
short western border is fairly defensible but the
long meandering northern and southern borders
along the Tomo and Tuparro will be difficult, and
it is in theseriversthat the animals most in need of
protection occur, giant river otter and Orinoco
crocodile. Already newcomers are hunting crocodiles in parts of the Tomo west of the park where
crocodiles breed, and a colonist recently shot two
giant otters to the west of the park, an easy thing
to do to these inquisitive creatures.
The second problem will be the road link planned
by the Government between Puerto Careno
capital of Vichada Indendencia, and the road
through the middle of the park, in order to bypass
the parts of the present road that are impassable
in the rainy season. This will bring much commercial and private traffic through the western
half of the park. The park's very low budget—in
1980 8000,000 pesos or $160,000—and the
fact that carrying firearms is customary in this part
of Colombia will make it difficult, if not impossible, to control illegal hunting, especially in
the dry season when vehicles can drive over the
A remote park in Colombia
savanna. Other routes are possible that would
avoid the park altogether. If the park's annual
budget remains so low both problems will be
exacerbated.
Facilities
El Tuparro has some facilities for research
workers at both ends of the park and more are
planned. Tourism is undeveloped although in the
dry months a few parties usually drive out from
Bogota, an arduous trip for which petrol must be
carried. It is possible to fly from Caracas to Puerto
Ayacucho, about 60 km north of Tuparro and
arrange river transport via the Orinoco. The park
has two landing strips suitable for a light plane,
but no accommodation. Intending visitors should
apply to the Parks section of INDERENA in
Bogota before any visit.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank INDERENA and
the American Peace Corps for the opportunity of
working in El Tuparro National Park for five
years. In particular, I would like to thank Ernesto
Barrige-B. of the Peace Corps and Jorge
Hernandez-C. of INDERENA for their personal
involvement and interest in my activities.
References
Defler, T.R. 1979a. On the ecology and behavior of Cebus
albifrons in eastern Colombia: 1. Ecology. Primates 20 (4),
475-490.
Defler, T.R. 1979b. On the ecology and behavior of Cebus
albifrons in eastern Colombia: II. Behavior. Primates 20 (4),
491-502.
Defler, T.R. 1980. Notes on interactions between the tyra
(Eira barbara) and the white-fronted capuchin (Cebus
albifrons). J. Mammal. 61 (1), 156.
Vincelli, P. 1981. Estudio de la uegetacion del Tem'torio
Faunistico 'El Tuparro'. Cespidesia.
Thomas R. Defler, Apartado Aero 4559, Bogota, Colombia.
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