This is the most extraordinary national park of the Amazon in South America. It is one of the largest park (1 523 000 acres) and one of the most intact of the Amazon Basin. Occupying a range of elevations from 200 to 1000 meters, it is a rich mosaic of varied habitats. The park has an evolutionary history covering more than one million years since the Precambrian. We find there numerous living populations of large vertebrates almost instinct at a global level, a flora which diversity is estimated at 4000 species with more than 600 bird species (more bird species than the US and Canada offer together! For the vertebrates, the stars of the park are the jaguars, tapirs, monkeys and dolphins). UNESCO is considering declaring this area a World Heritage Site, for good reasons! The site contains a variety of habitats: rain forest, palm tree forest, Cerrado, swamps, savannahs and dry forest. Isolated for millions of years the habitats of the Cerrado that we find on the Meseta de Huanchaca are a living laboratory ideal for the study of the evolution of these ecosystems. Landscapes of endless green jungle, rivers and savannah… Numerous waterfalls (Arco iris and Ahifield) give a spectacular character to this area. As a matter of fact, this place inspired Conan Doyle to write his novel The Lost World.
The Kempff national park is located at the Northwestern extremity of the county (department) of Santa Cruz. It is only accessible by 4WD or by plane, making it a costly destination. In 2001, the number of visitors was of only 200. The camp (only 20 beds) Flor de Oro is located at the exact place where the first western visitor, the Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett arrived in 1911 (see his book “Exploration”).
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