Sanquianga National Nature Park
The Sanquianga National Nature Park spreads over 80,000 hectares and is located along the Colombian Pacific Coast. Created in 1977, it contains the environmental assets that are characteristic of delta-estuary areas at the mouths of the river Tapaje, Aguacatal and Sanquianga.
The Park contains approximately 20% of the mangrove swamps of the Colombian Pacific, the source of food and reproduction of a large diversity of marine species, where the larvae of fish, crustaceans and molluscs, so vital to the region?s economy, come to develop.
Among the fish species are rays, monkfish, sole and some species of commercial importance which spend their first stages of life in the mangrove swamps like the sea bream, the mullet, the sea catfish, the chilli sea catfish, white snook and ?machetazo? fish, among others. Among the molluscs, are the hermit crab, baby conch, mangrove cockle and mangrove periwinkle. 60 species of bird, including 14 migratory, have been reported in the area. Mammals such as the sloth bear, the ant eater, the fox, the deer, the peccary, the paca and the little spotted cat are found in the mangrove swamps. The most outstanding feature of the Park is its large area of mangrove swamps with tall trees with 40 to 50 metre high canopies.
In 1644 slaves from Guinea and Nigeria were brought to work in the gold mines in the alluvial soils of the Telembí river and other along the Pacific coast. After the abolition of slavery in 1851, the descendants of these groups settled along the Pacific coastline forming the communities that currently inhabit the area. The economy of these communities is mainly based on fishing, mangrove cockle picking and subsistence farming.
