Podocarpus National Park Voyage Tips and guide

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Podocarpus National Park (officially Parque Nacional Podocarpus) is a protected natural area in southeastern Ecuador. It is an area of mixed ecosystems as the environment transitions from the Andean highlands to the lowland jungles of the Amazon basin. The park has a huge number of different species with quite a few endemic species (this is attributed to the merging of different ecosystems).

The park is quite large, covering an area of 146,280 hectares. Much of this is remote backcountry that is difficult to reach.

The park was created as part of the Ecuador national parks system in 1982.

The park's landscape varies depending on which section you're in and what the elevation is like there. The western part of the park is in the Andes highlands and elfin (or dwarf) forests dominate at elevations of 3,000 meters. There are also paramo areas at higher elevation with grassy meadows around glacial lakes. More than 100 of these lakes (called lagunas) can be found in the park. In the eastern section of the park, the elevations drop to about 1,000 meters and the ecosystem is a tropical rainforest.

More than 4,000 plant species have been found in Podocarpus National Park, including gnarly, twisted small trees in the elfin forest, towering trees more than 15 meters high, and several species of orchid. Tree species include sappanwood, arrayán, acacio and walnut. There are a few kinds of cactus in there too even though conditions are often quite moist and humid. There's also laurel, elder, adler, sage and castor oil plants.

Birdwatchers will love the park, where more than 500 species of bird have been spotted. Mammal seekers have a bit less to look for with only about 50 species known in the park. Those include the spectacled bear, mountain tapirs, a small deer known as the pudu (smallest deer in the world), anteaters, porcupines and even a few jaguars.

If you get freaked out by bugs, you might want to avoid the park. Botanists have cataloged more than 1,200 insect species there.

Conditions in the park vary quite a bit by elevation. The western part of the park is cooler and has its rainy season between October and December, while the eastern part of the park tends to be at least 5°C warmer than the west and it gets its rainy season between March and July.

The closest airport with commercial flights is Loja (LOH  ^IATA). Once you're in Loja you can make your way to one of the park entrances. The two main park entrances are at Cajanuma and Bombuscaro. Bombuscaro is about 1 hour from Loja. The Zamora bus goes to Bombuscaro every 2 hours and costs about US$4 for the 1 hour ride. The Dos Puentes bus goes to Cajanuma every 15 minutes and costs about US$1 for the 25 minute ride. A bus also goes to Vilcabamba, which doesn't have an official entrance but has trails from town going into the park. These are often recommended for backpackers planning to do backcountry camping.

Hike.

Backcountry camping is allowed. As always, practice Leave No Trace hiking and camping.

• Zamora
• Cuenca
• El Cajas National Park