The Yasuni National Park in Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse place on Earth.
A Journey to the Diversity of Life!
The Yasuni National Park (PNY) is located in the Provinces of Orellana and Pastaza in Eastern Ecuador, a tiny spot in the Western Amazon Basin, it is arguably as one of the most biodiverse place on Earth.
The Yasuni National Park Information
The Yasuni National Park was established 26 July 1979, between the Napo and Curaray rivers. It is the biggest conservation unit Ecuador, encompasses an extension of 1´022.736 hectares of Tropical Evergreen Forest, with an Altitudinal Range between:190 – 400 meters.
The Yasuni National Park contains an amazing Diversity of Life, visible on its flora and fauna. There are amazing numbers!, for example, more than 200 mammalian species, more than 650 bird species, more than 120 species of reptiles, more than 147 amphibian species and more than 600 fish species. The Yasuni National Park is the core area of the Biosphere Reserve created 1989 by the UNESCO.
The Yasuni National Park Rivers.
The rivers inside the reserve started at the end of the Andean Foothills at altitudes from 300 meters to 600 meters above sea level; the most important rivers that flow through the park are: Napo, Yasuní, Cononaco, Nashiño and Tiputini.
The Yasuni National Park Oxbow Lakes
The most important Oxbow Lakes through the park were created by the Napo River, all of them with black water systems: Añangucocha (Leaf-cutters Ant Lake), Yuturicocha, Pañacocha (Piranha Lake) and Jatuncocha .
Weather and Rainfall
Office in Coca
Calles Bolívar and Amazonas. Puerto Francisco de Orellana (Coca).
Province of Orellana.
Phone: (06) 288-2500
New Rocafuerte Office: (06) 238 2141.
People living the Yasuní National Park
The People living in the Yasuní National Park is a mosaic of ethnics groups with different lifestyles, all connected with the forest as their main source of food and supplies. and lately internal migration from other places to Ecuador come to work.
The entire area between the Napo and Curaray rivers was home to a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer: The Waorani People, lived throughout the area, hunting, collecting fruits and keeping small crops; in 1969 they were confined and grouped in an area that was called “protectorate”, located in the headwaters of the Curaray River. Some Clans that did not accept to live in the protectorate nor renounce their type of life are the seed of the Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation: The Tagaeri and Taromenane People.
Today, to the west of the park extends the Waorani Territory, which covers only a part of its ancestral territory, while the northern part of the Yasuní is concessioned to several oil companies.
The Kichwa People live in the northern part of the park along the Napo River is an itinerant population of dedicated to ecotourism, guides, students and researchers working at the two scientific stations that are located inside the park and in its buffer zone.
The Yasuni National Park Facts
The Yasuni National Park is located in the Napo Basin, a funnel shaped basin with 98445 Km2. Originates in the eastern of the Ecuadorian Andes and expands southeast to the convergence of the Napo and the Marañon Rivers in Peru.
The annual rainfall in the Yasuni National Park can reach 3800 mm with an average monthly rain of 260 mm.
The wettest month is, usually, July with 400 mm and the driest is December with 130 mm.
The rainfall seasonality in the Yasuni National Park is bimodal. In other words, there are two wet seasons, one between March and July, and the other between October and November.
The mean annual temperature is 25.5 °C with a mean maximum temperature of 30 °C and a minimum of 23 °C. November, December and January are the hottest months whereas July is the coldest.
The relative humidity is high during the whole year. In the dry season, the annual mean humidity is about 83% while in the rainy season is almost 90%.
The Yasuni National Park Oil Drilling
Oil exploitation affects local communities’ social practices and the natural ecosystem.
The Yasuni National Park curse is an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of crude oil – 40% of Ecuador’s reserves – in the Ishpingo-Tiputini-Tambococha (ITT) oil fields
The Yasuni National Park Map
The Yasuni National Park Tours
The best way to explore the Diversity of Life of the Yasuni National Park is by taking all different types of tours offered, Check below a short description.
Nature Tours
The best Nature Tours to explore the Diversity of Life of the Yasuni National Park, start from Coca, Orellana Ecuador. Check below a short description.
4 Days
5 Days
8 Days
Birding Tours
The best Birding Tours to explore the Diversity of Birdlife of the Yasuni National Park, start from Coca, Orellana Ecuador. Check below a short description.
4 Days
5 Days
8 Days
Wildlife Photo Tours
The best Wildlife Photo Tours to explore the Diversity of Life of the Yasuni National Park, start from Coca, Orellana Ecuador. Check below a short description.
4 Days
5 Days
8 Days
Cultural Experience
The best Cultural Experiences to explore the Diversity of Life of the Yasuni National Park, start from Coca, Orellana Ecuador. Check below a short description.
4 Days
5 Days
8 Days
Adventure Tour
The best Adventure Tour to explore the Diversity of Life of the Yasuni National Park, start from Coca, Orellana Ecuador. Check below a short description.
4 Days
5 Days
8 Days
The Yasuni National Park Biodiversity
The distribution of amphibian, bird, mammal, and vascular plant species across South America demonstrate the Yasuni National Park unique biogeographic position where species richness of all four taxonomic groups reach diversity maxima.
The Yasuni National Park holds a world record of 150 amphibian species,121 reptiles species 382 fish species documented.
The Yasuni National Park is home to at least 596 bird species which comprises one-third of the total native bird species for the Amazon.
The park is also very rich with many species of bats.
On a regional scale, the Amazon Basin has an estimated 117 bat species but on a local scale,
Yasuni is estimated to have comparable richness.
In a single hectare, Yasuni has over 100,000 different species of insects which is roughly the amount of insect species that can be found in all of North America.
It is one of nine places in the world that has over 4,000 vascular plant species per 10,000 km2.
The park contains many species of trees and shrubs and holds at least four world records for documented tree and liana richness and for diversity in woody plant species.
The park also hosts a list of endemic species such as 43 different species of vertebrates and between 220-720 different plant species.
The Yasuni National Park Animals
Mammals
The Mammals of the Yasuni National Park is very well represented with 5 species of cats like Jaguar, puma, Ocelot, 12 species of monkeys, including the Pygmy Marmoset and the Yellow-bellied Spider Monkey, Giant Armadillo, Giant Anteater, Giant Otter, Lowland Tapir, Sloth and many other unique mammals from the Amazon Rainforest.
Birds
The Birds of the Yasuni National Park represents a third of all the Amazonian bird fauna with Macaws, Toucans, Harpy Eagle, Fiery Topaz, Rufous Potoo, Salvin’s Curassow, Antbird, Woodcreepers, motmots and many other birds from the Amazon Rainforest.
Treefrogs
The Frogs and other amphibian of the Yasuni National Park have world record, with Smoky Jungle, Gladiator Treefrog, Yasuní broad-headed Treefrog, Green Glass Tree Frog, Ringed Caecilian and many others frogs from the Amazon Rainforest.
Insects
The Insects and other invertebrates of the Yasuni National Park are well represented by butterflies such as Morpho, the Owl butterfly, Heliconius, many species of Dung Beetles, tons of ants everywhere, Watch out for the Bullet Ant.
Snakes
The Snakes and other reptilians of the Yasuni National Park are represented by Anaconda, Boa constrictor, Bushmaster, Emerald Tree Boa, Coral Snake and many other Amazon Rainforest Snakes.
The Yasuni National Park Plants
The Flora of the Yasuni National Park consist of many emblematics species of tree such as Ceiba, the largest tree in the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador, Mahogany Tree, Red Cedar tree, Rubber Tree, Balsa Tree, and of course many lianas such as Curare to make hunting poison or Ayahuasca to connect with Mother Nature and many other medicinal plants use by indigenous people.
Heliconias
Heliconias are far relatives of bananas, can be easily confused for the shape of the leaves, when flowering it attracts several species of hummingbirds from a special group of the Amazon Rainforest: The Hermits.
Passiflora
The Passiflora or Passion Vines are bright colored flowers inside the forest, many species of butterflies from the family Heliconidae come to laid eggs on its fresh leaves.
Centropogon
The Centropogon genus is represented for several species, all of the seems to attract hummingbirds.