Category: South America

Sierra Nevada del Cocuy

The Sierra Nevada del Cocuy is one of the most dramatic mountain landscapes in Colombia. Rising along the eastern branch of the Colombian Andes, this high-altitude range contains glacier-covered peaks, rocky ridges, turquoise lakes, páramo grasslands, deep valleys, and some of the highest mountains in the country. Much of the range lies within El Cocuy …

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Galapagos National Park

Galápagos National Park protects one of the most remarkable natural environments on Earth. Located roughly 1,000 kilometers west of mainland Ecuador in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the Galápagos Islands are famous for giant tortoises, marine iguanas, penguins, flightless cormorants, Darwin’s finches, sea lions, blue-footed boobies, and dozens of other species that evolved in long isolation …

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Torres del Paine National Park

Torres del Paine National Park protects one of the most dramatic mountain landscapes in South America. Located in southern Chilean Patagonia, the park combines jagged granite towers, turquoise lakes, immense glaciers, windswept grasslands, Magellanic forest, fast-flowing rivers, waterfalls, and broad valleys beneath some of the most unpredictable weather on the continent. The park is named …

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Manu National Park

Manu National Park is one of the most biologically extraordinary protected areas on Earth. Stretching from the high Andes into the lowland Amazon of southeastern Peru, the park encompasses cloud forests, mountain grasslands, river valleys, wetlands, and vast expanses of tropical rainforest. Few protected areas contain such a dramatic range of elevations and habitats within …

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