Serranía De La Macarena
Biodiversity
The national park encompasses the ecologically unique meeting point for the flora and fauna of the Amazon, Orinoco and Andes regions. The area is of tropical climate and temperatures range from 42 °F (5.5 °C) to 88 °F (31 °C). These aspects help to maintain a high level of biodiversity with numerous endemic and rare species.
The ecosystems found within the park include rainforest, dry forest, shrublands and savanna. The mountains are home to around 50 known species of orchids, and botanists studying the area have identified more than 2,400 other species of plants. Of those, over 400 can also be found in the Orinoquía subregions. The plants in the Macarena have even less overlap with the 8,000 species in the Amazon subregions.
The ecosystem's fauna includes anteaters, jaguars, cougars, deer, 8 species of monkeys, 500 species of birds including the gray-legged tinamou, 1,200 species of insects and 100 species of reptiles.
Ecotourism
The La Macarena National and Ecological Reserve Park is internationally known for the Caño Cristales, known by people who has visited it as one of the most beautiful rivers in the world.
The park also contains petroglyphs from ancient cultures (Angosturas I and II petroglyphs in the Guayabero River). There are also enormous waterfalls, such as Caño Canoas, El Salto de Yarumales, El Salto del Mico, Soplaculos and others. Most of them are difficult to reach on foot due to the rugged terrain.
Just outside of the city of La Macarena are the Botanical Gardens of La Macarena, a place that offer the possibility of nature tourism involving its visitors in restoration activities.
Geology
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Ca%C3%B1o_Cristales%2C_Colombia.jpg/220px-Ca%C3%B1o_Cristales%2C_Colombia.jpg)
Basement rocks on the east side of the Macarenas include the Precambrian granite of the Guyana Shield in the Guaviare River valley and the San Jose del Guaviare area. The rocks of the shield are overlain by sandstones and conglomerates of the Vaupes Formation of Lower Paleozoic to the lower Oligocene age.