Bolivia
Noel Kempff Mercado National Park
Noel Kempff Mercado National Park
The Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, located in the Amazon Basin, is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world.
Ranging in altitude from 200 to 1000m, the park has Cerrado savannah, seasonally flooded forests, wetlands and evergreen rainforests. An estimated 4,000 species of flora as well as over 600 bird species and viable populations of many globally endangered or threatened vertebrate species live in the park. Among these are the giant otter, giant anteater, hyacinth macaw, giant armadillo, pink river dolphin, maned wolf, marsh and pampas deer.
Community Perspective: this site has not been reviewed yet. It has been virtually inaccessible for decades due to neglect and the production of illegal drugs. An update (2023) on the current possibilities can be found here in our Forum.
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- Noel Kempff Mercado National Park (ID: 967)
- Country
- Bolivia
- Status
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Inscribed 2000
Site history
History of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park
- WHS Type
- Natural
- Criteria
- ix
- x
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org/
Related Resources
- sernap.gob.bo — Parque NacionalNoel Kempff Mercado
News Article
- March 10, 2022 vice.com — A Huge Cocaine Lab Was Found Inside Noel Kempff Mercado National Park
Community Information
- Community Category
- Natural landscape: Diverse ecosystems
Travel Information
One thousand visitors or fewer
Recent Connections
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Savanna
Includes Cerrado savannah (AB ev); "the… -
Plant WHS not in a CPD
"The site also contains a high diversit… -
Assassinations
"During a field campaign in the Huancha…
Connections of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park
- Geography
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On National Border
On Brasil border -
Amazon Basin
"The National Park is one of the largest (1,523,000 ha) and most intact parks in the Amazon Basin." (official description) - The Guaporé (Río Iténez) is part of the Madeira River basin, which eventually empties into the Amazon River. (wiki)
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- History
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Assassinations
"During a field campaign in the Huanchaca National Park in 1986 he and several other scientists discovered a cocaine factory in the Bolivian forest. Kempff Mercado and most of the scientists were killed by the criminals. The Huanchaca National Park was renamed in 1988 as Noel Kempff Mercado National Park." (wiki)
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- Ecology
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Savanna
Includes Cerrado savannah (AB ev); "the Huanchaca Plateau (Huanchaca Meseta or Serrania de Huanchaca), which at 42,000 hectares is one of the largest protected tracts of undisturbed cerrado in the world." (wiki) -
Turtles and tortoises
Habitat of yellow-spotted river turtle -
Big Waterfalls
Catarata Arco Iris -
Crocodiles
broad-snouted caiman, black caiman -
Orchids
110 species of orchids are recorded from the Park (UNEP-WCMC) -
Sloths
brown-throated sloth, two-toed sloth -
Anteaters
giant anteater, silky anteater -
High-Biodiversity Wilderness Area
Amazonia -
Jaguar habitat
See www.aracari.com
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River Dolphins
Amazonian River Dolphin "Viable populations exist of many globally endangered or threatened large vertebrates including the .... pink river dolphin" (AB) -
Otters
Giant otter -
Rainforests
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- Human Activity
- WHS on Other Lists
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World Heritage Forest Programme
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Plant WHS not in a CPD
"The site also contains a high diversity of plant and animal species" (OUV), "An estimated 4,000 species of flora .. live in the park. (Official Description Unesco website)
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- Timeline
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Holocene
Pollen and charcoal records from two large, shallow lakes reveal that throughout most of the past 50,000 yr Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, in northeastern lowland Bolivia (southwestern Amazon Basin), was predominantly covered by savannas and seasonally dry semideciduous forests.
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- Visiting conditions
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One thousand visitors or fewer
“Tourism to the park is currently extremely limited--less than a thousand visitors per year” (AB ev)
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- WHS Names
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Named after individual people
Prof. Noel Kempff Mercado
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News
- vice.com 03/10/2022
- A Huge Cocaine Lab Was Found Insid…
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.Community Reviews
Show full reviews
Noel Kempff (NK from now on) is a unique savannah but also has rainforest area - but no, you won't get stuck in a jungle and whack through the thick bush with machetes. You still get plenty of rain, mosquitoes, malaria, ants and the lot. The reason is that NK is quite wild and forgotten, not even the tours go there anymore. I went there 5 years ago with Ruta Verde and since then they stopped doing that, or at least I think they did because last time I asked for a custom tour for a small group and they just declined. The lodges, more or less walls with bedsheets inside, were not nice to begin with and Covid probably killed off the little market there was anyway.
One flies in from Santa Cruz which means another flight to there in the first place but if you are visiting the rest of Bolivia's sights then you will be there anyway. The tour was 4 days (3 tough nights) and every day one would go out trekking and drive on the muddy roads in 4x4s. As you are in a rainforest the types of animals are more like deer, armadillos, anteaters, plenty of birdlife and otters when you do the river tour. The main attraction to look out for would be a puma or jaguar but no luck for me. It's not uncommon to see howler monkeys.
NK is a unique experience but it's a tough trip and it …
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