In a Colombian national park, pictographs and pristine nature point the way toward a more hopeful future

Chiribiquete National Natural Park and the _Serranía de la Lindosa_ buffer zone feature many flat-topped mountains known as _Tepuyes_. Unesco, Author provided

Colombia’s Chiribiquete National Natural Park is a natural, historical and cultural wonder. Located in the northwestern part of the Colombian Amazon, it covers 43,000 square kilometres and contains what are probably some of the most ancient traces of human occupation in the Americas, with tens of thousands of pictographs in more than 50 rock shelters. The park also contributes significantly to climate regulation in the region, and so forms an important part of the Amazon ecological system. In addition, there are clues of the presence of isolated indigenous groups, whose protection is a national and international obligation.

In recognition of Chiribiquete’s inestimable environmental and cultural value, in 2018 the park was inscribed in the Unesco World Heritage List. To protect the site and the peoples who live there, it has been closed to visitors since 1989. The Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia (PNNC), manager of the site along with Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH), has urged that the Chiribiquete be kept closed to tourism.