Los Katíos National Park facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Los Katíos National Natural Park |
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| PNN Los Katíos | |
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IUCN Category II (National Park)
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 Los Katíos National Natural Park
Location in Colombia
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| Location | Antioquia & Chocó,  Colombia |
| Area | 720 km2 (280 sq mi) |
| Established | August 6, 1974 |
| Governing body | SINAP |
| Type: | Natural |
| Criteria: | ix, x |
| Designated: | 1994 (18th session) |
| Reference #: | 711 |
| Region: | Latin America and the Caribbean |
| Endangered: | 2009–2015 |
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Los Katíos National Natural Park (which means Parque Nacional Natural (PNN) Los Katíos in Spanish) is a special protected area in northwest Colombia. It covers a huge area of about 720 square kilometers (278 square miles). The land here is between 50 and 600 meters (164 to 1,968 feet) above sea level.
This park is part of the Darién Gap, a very thick forest shared by Panama and Colombia. It connects directly to the Darién National Park in Panama. Los Katíos was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. It got this special title because it has an amazing variety of plants and animals.
Contents
Exploring the Park's Landscape
Los Katíos National Park has many different types of land. You can find low hills, thick forests, and wet plains across its total area.
The park's two biggest parts are the Serranía del Darién mountains in the west and the Atrato River floodplains in the east. The floodplains have very rich soil. They are made of flat areas that sometimes flood and higher areas that rarely flood.
There are also low hills up to 250 meters (820 feet) high, and some even reach 600 meters (1,968 feet). Nearly half of the park is covered by swampy marshes. The wet areas near the Atrato River are truly unique.
The Cativo Tree
One special tree found here is the Cativo. It can grow as tall as 50 meters (164 feet)! This tree gives its name to a special forest type called 'catival'. You can only find Cativo trees in Colombia, parts of Central America, and Jamaica.
Why Los Katíos is So Important
Los Katíos National Park has an incredibly high amount of different living things, which is called biodiversity. Along with the Darién National Park next door in Panama, it's a place where many species are found only in this region. This means they are endemic to this area.
Amazing Animal Life
The park is home to at least 450 different kinds of birds. That's more than 25% of all the bird species found in Colombia, even though the park is less than 1% of Colombia's total land!
Almost 20% of the plant species in the park are also unique to the Chocó-Darién moist forests region.
Because of where it is, in northern Colombia, this area was like a bridge. It allowed animals to move between North and South America a very long time ago. This movement still happens today. Los Katíos is the only place in South America where you can commonly find many animals from Central America. These include the Giant anteater and the Central American tapir.
Natural Wonders to See
The park also protects beautiful natural spots. These include the 25-meter (82-foot) high Tendal waterfall and the 100-meter (328-foot) high Tilupo waterfall. You can also explore the Tumaradó swamps.
Since 1990, paths and places to stay have been set up for small groups of visitors. You can enter the park through the park office in Sautatá.
A Look at the Park's History
The area was first home to the Guna, an indigenous group. Over time, the Katío-Embera people came to live in the Chocó region, and the Guna moved to Panama.
The Darién region, where Los Katíos is, was very important for the first people who settled in the Americas. They used this land bridge to travel from North to South America about 20,000 years ago. Later, in the 1500s, Spanish explorers like Rodrigo de Bastidas, Alonso de Ojeda, and Vasco Núñez de Balboa were among the first Europeans to discover this region in 1501.
Protecting the Park
More recently, a small part of the park near Sautatá was used for farming, mostly for sugar cane. When the park was created in 1974, about 150 local families moved to nearby towns.
In 2009, Los Katíos National Park was put on the List of World Heritage in Danger. This happened because there were threats to the park, like too many trees being cut down, people building homes where they shouldn't, and too much fishing and hunting.
However, in 2015, the park was taken off the danger list! This was because the park's management improved a lot. The government also took steps to stop illegal tree cutting and overfishing.
See also
In Spanish: Parque nacional natural de Los Katíos para niños
