The Best Hikes in Podocarpus National Park From Loja and Zamora

Podocarpus Countrywide Park is a person of the most lovely nationwide parks in Ecuador owing to its topography and place in the Eastern Ranges of the Andes Mountains in southern Ecuador. The park consists of ecosystems in just the Sierra and the Ecuadorian Amazon. Its altitude ranges from 900 to 3,600 meters higher than sea amount. Podocarpus was declared a nationwide park on December 15, 1982, a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2007 and in 2012 it was declared a Ramsar internet site, for wetlands conservation.

The park has valleys, slopes, mountains, glacial lakes, paramo, cloud forests, thickets, rivers and hills. This countrywide park has a lot more than 622 registered species (like above 37% of the birds in the nation), which is why it is known as 1 of the richest locations for birdlife in the entire world with mountain turkeys, rock roosters, parrots, hummingbirds, significant-altitude toucans, tanagers, numerous species of raptors, torcaza, the eagle, woodpecker, bearded turkey, zumba, blackbird, Andean gull, doggy fowl and the guajalito.

There are also extra than 4,000 species of flora, of which 40% of them are endemic, which means it only exists in this location and you can not obtain them anywhere else in the entire world.

Other animals that you can obtain in the park are pygmy deer, puma, a variety of deer, páramo wolf, tigrillo, tapir, spectacled bear, spider monkeys, tapirs, cutines, jambatos, glass frogs, the anolis podocarpus lizard, the opossum, the marsupial mouse, the polynivorous bat, the American tiger, pudú, cervicabra, preñadilla, sardines, foxes, squirrels and the chucuri. In the park there are four major species in hazard of extinction: the jaguar, the mountain tapir, the northern pudú and the spectacled Andean bear.

In the vicinity of Podocarpus there are many extra purely natural areas that are well worth visiting which include Yacuri Countrywide Park and the Cerro Plateado Biological Reserve, which belong to the Podocarpus – El Cóndor Biosphere Reserve. 

What can make the park unique is the combination of the dry vegetation from the Coastline, the humid vegetation of the higher Andes and the forests of the Amazon, offering a excellent variety of species. Some of the most typical items to do in the Podocarpus Countrywide Park are mountaineering, biking, bird seeing, horseback driving and camping.

The Podocarpus Countrywide Park is located amongst the provinces of Zamora Chinchipe (70%) and Loja (30%). The park can be achieved as a result of the city of Loja or via the city of Zamora. If you go from Loja, you accessibility the Cajanuma Administrative Middle. When if you visit from Zamora, you arrive by way of Bombuscaro.

Entrance to the park is absolutely free and is open everyday from 08:00 AM to 5:00 PM. You should sign-up at the entrance to the park at the rangers’ refuge.

When is the very best time to check out Podocarpus National Park?

The ideal time to pay a visit to Podocarpus Countrywide Park is from September to December, when the climate is hotter and there is considerably less possibility of rain, ideal for the climbing trails.

What to deliver or pack to go to the Podocarpus Nationwide Park?

The fantastic packing listing for Podocarpus National Park all relies upon on what spot of the park you approach to pay a visit to. If you go to Loja you need to put on warm dresses, a poncho, a water resistant jacket and shut-toe shoes, but if you go by means of Zamora it is sensible to wear mild water resistant clothes and h2o sneakers. 

  • Water
  • Warm outfits (in case you go to the Lojano aspect of the park)
  • Insect repellent
  • Sunscreen
  • Hat
  • Treats
  • Eyeglasses
  • Water resistant jacket
  • Climbing footwear

How to get to Podocarpus National Park?

There are two main entrances to Podocarpus Countrywide Park. If you want to pay a visit to the lessen section of the park, you have to go from Zamora along the Bombuscaro street for 7 kilometers until you attain the parking large amount and observe the route that usually takes you to the park refuge.

If you want to go to the higher section of the park, you have to go from Loja together the highway to Vilcabamba, continuing on for 15 kilometers until finally you achieve the 1st checkpoint, and from there generate on 9 additional kilometers to the Refuge from the Administrative Middle. 

Podocarpus National Park – Loja 

Moving into by means of the Administrative Middle of Cajanuma, there are a range of shorter and long hikes, these kinds of as going to the Lagunas del Compadre, which are 14 kilometers from the administrative heart. The administrative heart in Cajanuma has a conference area, cabins, a tenting area, loos and 4 assigned trails. If you are not interested in camping inside the park, really do not fear, you can remain in the shelter in which there are five rooms, which expense $3.00 USD for every human being for each evening.

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