Amboro national park

AMBORO NATIONAL PARK

Date of creation
Initially created in 1973, the park was originally established as the Reserva de Vida Silvestre German Busch in 1984 but, with the help of the native biologist Noel Kempff, British zoologist Robin Clark and others, the park was expanded to its actual size in 1991. {{es icon}} {{cite news | author = Suarez Morales, Ovidio | title= Parques Nacionales yafines de Bolivia | date=[[22 February]] [[2007]]|accessdate = 2007-11-01}}

Description & Geography
Amboro National Park, covering an area of over 630,000 hectares in the western part of Santa Cruz State, within the denominated “Elbow of the Andes”, where the Eastern Cordillera ends its temporary westward course to regain a north-south axis. It lies within three distinct ecosystems: the foothillsof the Andes, the northern Chaco and the Amazon Basin. Amboro is a national protected area nearby the Santa Cruz, and one of the most visited parks in Bolivia.

Its attractions are determined by the peculiar features of its geography and by its biological makeup, both of them influenced by the cordillera’s direction, and letting the development of a great variety of flora and fauna. Its altituderanges from 300 up to allowing 3500 meters above sea level and annual rainfall ranges between 1400 and 4000 mm. Amboro stands out because of its vast biogeography. Besides holding some of the southernmost expressions of the Yungas forests, it is also a meeting point for the biological systems of the Chaco, the Amazon and the Andes. {{es icon}} {{cite news | author = Cuellar Chavez, Bismarck A. |title= Gran documental y atlas de Bolivia | publisher= Geografia, historia y vida | date=[[23 May]] [[2006]]|accessdate = 2007-11-01}}

Access
The area is bordered north and south by two roads that connect the cities of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. The southern road, built in the 1950’s and once asphalted, was left decaying after the opening of the northern route in the 1980’s. Today it hasreturned to gravel and dirt, limiting traffic and commercial exchange on this side of Carrasco and Amboro National Park.

These two roads are the starting point of many secondary ones, allowing easy access to the most developed parts of the Northern and Southern IMNAs (Integrated Management Natural Area). Small trails and river beds permit the access to the National Park, although the roughtopography only allows limited incursions. The principal access point to the Northern Zone are the towns of Buena Vista, Santa Fe, and Yapacani, along the new Cochabamba-Santa Cruz road - from which several dirt tracks lead penetrate all across the IMNA (Espejitos, Saguayó, La Chonta, Macuñucu) - and the Yapacani river during the rainy season. In the Southern Zone, the principal access points are alsosecondary roads principally departing from towns located on the main highway (El Torno, Samaipata, Mairana, Pampa Grande, Mataral, and Comarapa), relayed by secondary tracks and small trails. {{es icon}} {{cite news | author = Cuellar Chavez, Bismarck A. | title= Guía de viaje: Santa Cruz, Turismo y Cultura | date=[[05 April]] [[2006]]|accessdate = 2007-11-01}}

History
Since 1973, year of itscreation, the park’s rules and boundaries have been revised several times:
 
In 1984, the area was redefined as a national park and set its size to 180,000 ha. In 1989, from the town of Buena Vista and with a very limited budget, the Decentralized Unit of the Santa Cruz Forest Development Center took charge of the park’s first management, consisting essentially in flora and fauna inventories, acensus of the park’s human population and a few information campaigns.
This period saw the construction of the Mataracú, Saguayo, La Chonta, and Macuñucú ranger stations, administered by a liaison office, 10 park rangers, material and equipment. With support from TNC’s Parks in Peril (PiP) program, the Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN) took part in the management of the park’s Southern Zone,...