Amacayacu: Colombia's Amazon Heart
The Parque Nacional Amacayacu — 70 km upriver from Leticia — protects 293,000 hectares of primary Colombian Amazon; the park's indigenous communities, the wildlife density, and the Victoria amazonica lakes are among the Amazon's finest accessible experiences
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Amacayacu Primary Forest
Amacayacus primary forest has been little disturbed — the biodiversity is extraordinary; scientists have documented 4,000 plant species, 150 mammals, 500 bird species and over 2,000 plant species in the park; the ecological integrity makes every walk a nature experience
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Victoria Amazonian Lakes
Victoria amazonica - the giant water lily first described from the Amazon - grows in the flooded oxbow lakes (cochas) within Amacayacu; the giant cushions (up to 3 m diameter) and the night-blooming flowers (white the first night, pink the second) are extraordinary botanical spectacles
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Mocagua Indigenous People
The Mocagua community in Amacayacu Park – a village in Tikuna – manages community-based tourism; the village's manatee rehabilitation center, the guided forest walks and the craft production create a model of indigenously managed park tourism
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Monkey Clay Lick
A mud lick in Amacayacu Park attracts troops of woolly monkeys, squirrel monkeys and capuchins in the morning - the mud provides minerals that the forest diet lacks; observing 50-100 monkeys at a mud lick from a hidden position is extraordinary
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Macaw Clay Lick
Amacayacu Park has a macaw mud lick — which attracts red and blue-yellow macaws; the morning assembly, with the parrots arriving in waves of colored wings, is one of the Amazon's most spectacular wildlife events
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Bird watching in Amacayacu
The Amacayacu bird list (500+ species) includes many Amazonian specialties — the zigzag heron, the agami heron, the harpy eagle, and the razor-billed curassow are all recorded; the park's isolation and the intact forest mean birds are abundant and fearless