CALILEGUA NATIONAL PARK

With the purpose of protecting a representative area of the Selva de Montaña or Mountain Cloud Forest, also known as the Yungas region, as well as its important population of fauna and flora, the Parque Nacional Calilegua National Park was formed in 1979, on an area donated by the company that owned the Hacienda Ledesma Ranch, in the Calilegua Region of Jujuy. Province.

It occupies a surface of 76,306 hectares of mountainous relief that consists of a series of faults, glens and very steep mountains ranges that originate in the Calilegua Highlands.

The reserve is covered by jungles, transitional forests up to 410 m.a.s.l., and above them, mountainous forests which at 2,500 meters over sea level give way to an Andean High Mountain Plateau that reaches to the highest mountain peaks, but hollowed by deep ravines that have been carved by the courses of rivers and streams.

As the rest of jungle parks in north-western Argentina, the Calilegua Reserve carries out the important function of protecting the river catch basins, thus ensuring the quality and volume of waters that supply crops and cities down the river.

It is the more admired and visited park due to its easy access. The mountains, about 4,000 m high, boast vertical cliffs hundreds of, meters tall, which together with a dense jungle vegetation covers valleys and slopes, making the area one of the most attractive in the region.

The Cerro Hermoso, Amarillo, Mono Alto, and other mountains are notorious for their beauty. Several streams and rivers descend from there, such as the Valle Grande and the Tormento, which flow into the impressive San Lorenzo River. Then all of them empty into the San Francisco River which, flowing east, will later join the Bermejo River.

Sometimes these rivers only have a thin water thread and for that reason their valleys are dry. But in the rainy season they become big torrential rivers that drag logs, torn off trees, and big rocks.

Abundant rain in the region (more than 2,000 mm per year) allows for the development of dense vegetation that covers all the countryside. This region, one of the richest in species in Argentina, is characterized by possessing different types of vegetation, according to the different altitudes or heights where they live.

THE CLIMATE
The Park displays a vast range of microclimates according, mainly, to the altitude.. With average temperatures of 17 °C, winters are dry and temperate in the lower zones. And on mountain tops, between the months of June and September, snow is the norm. Summers are hot. They reach temperatures of 40 °C.

Relative humidity fluctuates between 60% and 85%, precipitations vary with altitude, from 800 mm in the lower zones of the Park, to 2000 mm in mountain jungles, mainly between the months of November and April.

The autumn is characterized by clouds of fog that totally cover the highlands. The compact vegetation web intercepts the fog, making it precipitate, which brings additional water for the vegetation. This type of water precipitation is called "horizontal rain".

The season to visit the Park is between the months of April and November.