This is Chiribiquete, the new World Heritage Site

Until a few days ago the name Chiribiquete was unknown; Even for me, I must be honest, until UNESCO made the announcement that it had granted the Serranía de Chiribiquete National Natural Park the status of Mixed Heritage of Humanity.

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This fact is an important event for the country because it continues to show that Colombia is one of the richest territories in biodiversity in the world , and allows better protection of this place considered unique in the continent and perhaps the planet. For this reason, we bring some data so you can understand its importance and impact.

CHIRIBIQUETE IMPORTANT FACTS

• The Chiribiquete park is located between the departments of Guaviare and Caquetá . It has an area of 4,268,095 hectares of land, something like the size of Haiti.

• Inside there are 38 rock plateaus, called tepuyes, which can measure up to 900 meters, which is three times the size of the Eiffel Tower.

• For more than 30 years it was under the control of Pablo Escobar and recently by the FARC guerrillas, a fact that kept it in the unknown and made its exploration impossible. And to this day it remains one of the most unexplored territories in the world.

• It is believed that indigenous communities inhabit their interior that voluntarily isolated themselves from the outside world, such is the case of the Karijona tribe, with whom contact was lost more than a century ago.

• It has the most extensive pictographic rock complex of the continent; so that they call it "The Sistine Chapel of the Amazon", with more than 70 thousand historical murals, which may be more than 20 thousand years old. For this reason, it was granted, among other things, the status of Mixed Heritage (unique in the continent), since not only are natural but also cultural values protected.

• Inside there are 708 species of plants unique in the world, 30 species of mammals, 410 of birds, 53 of amphibians, 41 of reptiles, 78 of arachnids, 293 of butterflies and 216 species of fish. Many of these species are in danger of extinction.

• At present, Chiribiquete Park provides 31% of the surface water of the Amazon.