Calilegua National Park is situated 75 mi (120 km) Northeast of Jujuy in Ledesma Department of Argentina. Take Route 7 to get to Calilegua National Park.
Location: 75 mi (120 km) Northeast of Jujuy, take Route 7 Map
Tel. (03886) 422 046
Area: 295 km²
Open: 9am- 6pm daily
Calilegua National Park covers an area of 295 km² of the Calilegua hills. It was established in 1979 to preserve La Yungas or subtropical humid Oranense Forest. These mountain forests reach an elevation of 3600 meters above sea level. Calilegua National Park contains a wide variety of biodiversity in plants, birds (about 500 species) and insects. Some of the larger mammals here are pumas, jaguars, ocelots, jaguarundi, tapirs and many others.
Calilegua National Park is dominated by a subtropical climate with wet summer months (December- February) and dry winter months (June- September). Mean temperature ranges between 17 C (62 F) and 40 C (104 F) in summer months. Most of rains hit Calilegua National Park area between November and April. Hence this part of the year is most dangerous to visit the protected bio reserve.
The specific objective is the protection of a
representative area of the Yungas and an ecotone of the Chaco
biogeographic province and the conservation of endemic species at a
national or global level. Its 76,306 ha make it the largest national
park in northwestern Argentina. . The geographic center of this park is
located at coordinates 23°55'00″S 64°50'00″W.
The name
"Calilegua" is usually associated with the Aymara language and is
equivalent to "Mirador de Piedra".
The ecoregion that is present
is the Yungas forest (or mountain forest of northwestern Argentina),
characterized by a warm humid climate, with summer rainfall of between
900 and 1,300 mm. The ecoregion is integrated with the sub-Andean
mountains, whose heights range between 400 and 3000 meters above sea
level. Of mountainous relief, it includes a series of faults, canyons
and very abrupt mountain ranges, which descend mainly from the Calilegua
mountain ranges.
The Calilegua National Park area was affected
between 1990 and especially in the first half of 2010 by oil drilling
that, in addition to violating the essence of a protected natural area,
involved risks of serious contamination and disfigured the park in its
aesthetic nature; The activity of Greenpeace and other environmental
institutions managed to conclude on Friday, December 18, 2015 with such
a violation of the regulations corresponding to the Protected Natural
Areas of Argentina.
Flora
Of the national parks that preserve yungas,
only Calilegua has a sector of the foothills forest. This sector is a
transition environment between two contrasting ecosystems, the dry
Chaqueño Forest and the humid Yungas. Of the environments that the park
protects, the foothills forest occupies marginal sectors in the lowest
areas (550-700 masl or meters above sea level or level 0). Here are
species such as the cebil colorado (Anadenanthera colubrina), the tipa
blanca (Tipuana tipu) and the lapacho rosa (Tabebuia impetiginosa).
In the upper altitude range (700-1500 m above sea level) the montane
forest appears, which is largely a cloud forest, which occupies the
largest area of Parque Calilegua. This forest is characterized by the
presence of laurel (Cinnamomum porphyrium), ceibo (Erythrina falcata),
colla cedar (Cedrela lilloi) and white cebil or horco cebil
(Parapiptadenia excelsa).
On the slopes of the hills, above 1,500
or 1,600 meters above sea level, there is a strip of montane forest,
where walnut trees (Juglans australis), yellow lapachos (Tabebuia
lapacho), hill pines (Podocarpus parlatorei), alders (Alnus acuminata)
and elder (Sambucus peruvianus) whose foliage covers reed thickets
(Chusquea lorentziana). At higher altitudes, around 1,900 meters above
sea level, queñoa (Polylepis australis) forests appear, whose size and
density decrease as altitude increases, until reaching almost pure alder
forests above 2,300 meters above sea level. These will diminish at
higher heights, leaving a plant cover similar to a meadow.
In the
summit or quasi-peak area of the Sierra de Calilegua there is a patch
of cloudy grassland that represents an "island" within a matrix in which
forests predominate.
Fauna
This national park presents
interesting specimens of native fauna. Some of the species that find
their habitat in the protected area are endemic or globally threatened.
Mammals
Jaguar (Panthera onca), puma (Puma concolor), wild cat
(Leopardus geoffroyi), jaguarundí (Puma yagouaroundi), taruca
(Hippocamelus antisensis), red deer (Mazama americana), river otter
(Lontra longicaudis), capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris ), collared
peccary (Tayassu tajacu), mountain fox (Cerdocyon thous), gray fox
(Lycalopex gymnocercus), greater ferret (Eira barbara), maned mane
(Procyon cancrivorus), coati (Nasua nasua), tapeti (Sylvilagus
brasiliensis) , caí monkey (Cebus apella), common guinea pig (Galea
musteloides), reddish agouti (Dasyprocta punctata), red squirrel
(Sciurus ignitus), among others.
Reptiles
Alligator overo
(Caiman latirostris), snakes, such as the brown mussurana (Clelia
rustica), and several species of snakes, such as the (Philodryas
olfersii) and the Chaco coral (Micrurus pyrrhocryptus), among others.
Amphibians
Various toads such as (Rhinella gallardoi), (Rhinella
quechua), (Rhinella rutalli) and the so-called mono yungueña frog
(Phyllomedusa boliviana)
Birds
It is one of the important
areas for the conservation of birds in Argentina. 377 species were
recorded, some rare or globally threatened. Among them are poma eagles
(Oroaetus isidori), royal crested eagle (Spizaetus ornatus), widow eagle
(Spizaetus melanoleucus), solitary eagle (Harpyhaliaetus solitarius) and
crowned eagle (Harpyhaliaetus coronatus); the pava de monte alisera
(Penelope dabbenei); the dippers (Cinclus schulzi); the lyre shortstop
(Uropsalis lyra), the dusky woodpecker (Leuconotopicus fumigatus) and
the mountain swift (Aeronautes montivagus).
The presence of the
cinnamon hermit (Phaethornis pretrei), kite (Sappho sparganura), blue
fronted (Eriocnemis glaucopoides), common (Chlorostilbon lucidus), white
belly (Amazilia chionogaster), chinstrap (Heliomaster furcifer), large (
Colibri coruscans), Andean (Oreotrochilus leucopleurus), Tan (Hylocharis
chrysura), and Dwarf (Microstilbon burmeisteri); the witch herons
(Nycticorax nycticorax), blackberry (Ardea cocoi) and white (Ardea
alba); the common woodpeckers (Picumnus cirratus), whiteback
(Campephilus leucopogon), common dorado (Piculus chrysochloros), royal
(Colaptes melanochloros), gray dorado (Colaptes rubiginosus) and
yungueño olive (Veniliornis frontalis), among many other species that
include almost a hundreds of varieties of songbirds.