National Parks in the Chaco, Paraguay facts for kids

The Gran Chaco is a huge flat area of land, about 1,000,000 square kilometers big! It stretches across parts of Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina.

This region is very special because it has its own unique types of animals and plants. Millions of years ago, the Chaco was like a giant bowl. Over time, it slowly filled up with sand and dirt carried by the wind and rivers. This is how the flat plain we see today was formed, connected to how the Andes mountains were created and then worn down by weather.

How Humans Have Changed the Paraguayan Chaco

Over the years, human activities have had a big impact on the Chaco. Here are some of the main ways:

• Cutting down trees: In the 1800s and 1900s, many red quebracho trees were cut down. These trees were used to make a product called tannin.
• New communities: Starting in the 1920s, groups of people called Mennonites settled in the Central Chaco. They built farms and towns.
• The Chaco War: From 1932 to 1935, there was a war between Paraguay and Bolivia over the Chaco region.
• Looking for oil: Companies have explored the area to find oil.
• Building roads: New roads, like the Carlos Antonio López highway (also called the Trans-Chaco highway or Route 9), have been built and paved. Other roads, like Route 5, and the Bioceanic Corridor railway, also cross the region.
• Building bridges: Bridges over the Paraguay River, such as Puente Remanso and the Nanawa bridge, have also changed the landscape.
• Farming experiments: Places called experimental agro stations have been set up to try out new farming methods.

Protected Areas: National Parks and Nature Reserves

To protect the unique environment of the Chaco, several special areas have been set aside. These are called national parks and natural reserves.

Cerro Cabrera – Timané Natural Reservation

This reserve was created in 1998 and covers about 125,823 hectares. A special river called the Timané River flows here. It's unique because it doesn't flow into any other river or lake. Cerro Cabrera is a hill located near the border with Bolivia.

The plants here are mostly dense savanna and open forests. You can find many white quebracho, samuù, and palo santo trees. Animals living in this reserve include wild cats, armadillos, giant anteaters, and tapirs.

Chovoreca Natural Monument

The Chovoreca National Monument was also created in 1998 and is about 100,953 hectares big. The plants in this area are very different from the rest of the Chaco, making it unique in Paraguay.

The soil here is reddish sand, similar to what you might find in the eastern part of the country. It's also very shallow. This area is beautiful, with special bushes and tall forests. You can even find the endangered trebol tree (Amburana cearensis) here. Animals like the giant anteater (yurumí u oso hormiguero), the Kaguaré, other types of wild cats, and armadillos live in this monument.

Defensores del Chaco National Park

The Chacoan peccary is a special animal found in the Chaco.

Defensores del Chaco National Park is the largest protected area in Paraguay. It covers a huge area of 720,000 hectares! It was officially created on August 6, 1975.

The park is mostly a vast plain. Its plants include white quebracho, palo santo, samuù trees, low forests, thorny bushes, and many types of cactus. This park is an excellent home for large mammals. You can find big cats like the jaguar, puma, and smaller wild cats like the tirika (Geoffroy's cat) and jaguarundi. Many kinds of armadillos, monkeys like the Ka’i mirikina and ka’i pyhare (Azara's night monkey), the tagua (Chacoan peccary), and the mboreví (South American tapir) also live here.

The park also contains Cerro León, a unique group of hills that stands out in the Chaco. It's about 40 kilometers wide.

Médanos del Chaco National Park

Médanos del Chaco National Park is 514,233 hectares in size. This park is special because of its "médanos," which are sand dunes with unique plants. You can also find guanacos, a type of camel-like animal, living here. Park rangers, who help protect the area, have their main office in the nearby Teniente Agripino Enciso National Park.

Río Negro National Park

This park was created in 1998 with an original size of 30,000 hectares, but it was made much larger in 2004 to 123,789 hectares. It protects important parts of the Pantanal and Humid Chaco ecosystems. Many areas in this park are regularly flooded, and you can see lots of Karanda`y palm trees.

In 1995, Río Negro National Park was named a Ramsar Site. This means it's recognized as a very important wetland for international bird migration and other wetland plants and animals. Animals found here include jaguars, wild parrots, Pantanal deer, lobope, and yacares.

Teniente Agripino Enciso National Park

Teniente Agripino Enciso National Park was created in 1980 and is 40,000 hectares. Its shape is almost a perfect rectangle, which makes it easier to protect the many different plants and animals inside. This park shows typical landscapes of the Dry Chaco. Because there isn't much water, the plants here are mostly dense, thorny forests that are hard to walk through. Common trees include white quebracho, palo santo, and samu’u.

You can find many wild mammals here, including wild cats like the yaguarte. All three types of peccaries (a pig-like animal) live here, and the tagua (Chacoan peccary) is a symbol of the area. The park also has old trenches and paths from the Chaco War. You can visit these with park guards who are trained to help tourists.

Tinfunqué National Park

Tinfunqué was created as a national park in 1996, covering 280,000 hectares. However, it's now suggested that its category be changed to a "resource management reserve." This is because all the land in Tinfunqué is privately owned, and national parks are usually wild areas that are owned by the public and strictly protected.

Tinfunqué was also declared a Ramsar Site, meaning it's an internationally important wetland. This area often floods when the Pilcomayo River has high waters, and it has large natural fields of grass.

Many shrubs here are able to survive floods. Animals like the ñandy (a type of bird), wild ducks, storks, chaja, aguara guazu (maned wolf), giant anteater, carpincho (capybara), and yacares live here. What's interesting is that the wild animals and cattle can share the same space. It's common to see ñandies and carpinchos sharing the water with cows.

See also

In Spanish: Áreas silvestres protegidas de Paraguay para niños