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ABOUT PACAYA - SAMIRIA NATIONAL PARK
Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, comprising around 2,080,000 hectares of virgin rainforest leading up to the confluence between the Marañon and the Huallaga rivers, two of the largest Amazon headwaters. The reserve is a swampland during the rainy season (Dec-March), when the streams and rivers all rise, arguably comparable to the Pantanal Swamps of southwestern Brazil in the density of astonishingly visible wildlife.
Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve is like no other protected area in Peru as it is directly linked to the economic well-being of such a large human population. At least 100,000 "ribereños", people living along the riverbanks of this Amazonian flooded rain forest, rely on its aquatic and terrestrial resources for food and income. Their work day is mostly occupied by subsistence activities like fishing, small-scale agriculture, gathering and hunting. Their survival depends on their intimate relationship with the natural environment.
Pacaya is the second largest national reserve in Peru, spanning more than 5 million acres. It is also the largest protected flooded forest in the world, making it one of the prime intact swaths of rain forest in the Peruvian Amazon. During the rainy season in the Andes the water level of the Ucayali and Marañon rivers rise, flooding 85% of the reserve, which remains flooded between four to six months of the year. Because of this, boat is the only way to access the reserve, which is twice the size of Yellowstone National Park and large enough to cover the entire U.S. state of New Jersey.
Location
Pacaya Samiria is located in the headwaters of the Amazon River in the north-eastern Peru, on an alluvial plain between the Marañon and Ucayali river systems. The reserve is accessible via the Amazon River through the nearby city of Iquitos in the department of Loreto, or through the city of Tarapoto in the department of San Martin.
Animals
Under the dense canopy of the rain forest, 449 species of tropical birds - including five of eight macaws native to Peru - share the tree branches with howler and spider monkeys. Levees and palm forests sustain peccaries, tapirs, and jaguars.
Pacaya Samiria has abundant acuatic resources, making it truly a fisherman’s dream. There are at least 256 known species of freshwater fish in Pacaya’s waters including the Giant Arapaima (Arapaima gigas), the largest fish in the Amazon, which can grow up to 8 feet in length and weigh 500 pounds. Floodplain lakes harbor many endangered or threatened aquatic species like gray and pink dolphins, manatees, giant river otters, black and spectacled caimans, and river turtles.
Plants
Nearly 1,000 plant species grouped into 132 families have been documented in Pacaya, including 22 species of orchids and 29 species of palms. Palms are the dominant plant throughout the reserve, the most abundant being the moriche (Mauritia flexuosa) known locally as the aguaje. Wildlife and local villagers rely heavily on palms for food. The aguaje fruit is critical to the diets of parrots and mammals such as the tapir, paca and agouti, while people use the fruit in drinks and ice cream. Birds and mammals feed on the fruit of the chonta palm, while humans harvest the palm's heart.
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