Physical Characteristics
The Penicillin del Casiquiare is located west and south of the middle course of the Orinoco River, presenting an average height of about 200 masl, some small deviations appear on the plain, like tiny hills, but the slope is minimal, which is due to the detour to the Casiquiare, from the waters of the Orinoco. The Guayanés Massif is characterized by the presence of high plateaus and mesas (Tepuyes) and the Serrania de Parima where Cerro Delgado Chalbaud is located, in the heart of the Yanomami Territory and where the Orinoco River rises at an altitude of 1047 meters above sea level. which covers two thirds of the Venezuelan territory and 80% of the Amazonas State. In addition to the Orinoco, the Ocamo, Matacuni, Matapire and Mavaca rivers form part of this water network.
Highlight Characteristics
Parima – Tapirapecó National Park is created with the purpose of protecting important sectors of the territorial space constituted by the Biosphere Reserve “Alto -Orinoco-Casiquiare”, where there are scenic beauties of significant importance as well as a high potential of renewable natural resources, especially water It is the largest national park in Venezuela and the fifth in the world. Places of interest are the Guaharibo stream, the Sierra Parima, the Mawedi tepuy and its waterfall, the Maturaca hill, the petroglyphs of the Arata stream and the Iyëwei canal. -Parima-Tapirapecó “Yanomami Land”. In this National Park, indigenous communities belonging to the Yanomami ethnic group have been settled since time immemorial. In it, almost the entire Yanomami population of Venezuela lives,
At present the Yanomama are divided into four linguistic groups These languages, although differentiated, are mutually understood In our country they are represented by: the Yanomami, the Sanema or Sanima, the Ninam or Yanam
All this territory is furrowed by a dense network of water courses that flow into the Upper Orinoco The Yanomami are generally moving on foot, they are not navigators Before and still today, they use footbridges and suspension bridges to cross their rivers.
Their subsistence is derived from agriculture, hunting, fishing and gathering of the fruits of the forest. These activities take place in the surroundings of the houses or shaponos, which consist of a circular structure around a kind of square with a series of sheds relatives To form the cover of the roof they use the leaves of a small palm of the genus Geonoma.
They use different materials from nature to make the ropes, threads, cabuyas and straps that they need The cotton threads are used for adornments and for the making of the chinchorros and guayucos that women wear The bark of a species of yagrumo Cecropia metensis is the most suitable to make the tensioners of the bows and the ropes of the hammocks.
The Yanomamis chew tobacco, they place it under the lower lip and rarely in the upper part; they moisten the dried leaves and mix it with hot ash. They use very potent hallucinogens such as Anadenanthera peregrina yopo, prepare with it a powder that mix with the ashes of the Elizabetha princeps tree, then inhale it using a long tube, it is constructed of a thin, light, knotty cane. One end carries a seilla de Cucurito perforated internally, which sticks to the cane with peramán. It can be said that these indigenous Venezuelans wisely manage the natural resources that nature provides them. For cultural anthropologists this is one of the oldest surviving ethnic groups on the planet.
Vegetation
The vegetation is formed in the area of the Casiquiare Penillanura mainly by ever green, dense and tall evergreen forests with up to three arboreal strata, consisting of mostly globose, large and understory undergrowth canopies. Part of these forests grow in periodically flooded lands. In the sector corresponding to the Guayanés Massif, the predominant vegetation is the evergreen, high, dense, submontane, evergreen forests, with 2 to 3 arboreal strata, the subsurface evergreen forests and the secondary gramineous savannahs with ” helechales “, which are open herbaceous communities of anthropic origin mixed with dense helechals (1 to 2 m high) and scarce bushes. In the vegetation the following species predominate: guamo bejuco Inga edulis, Yagrumo Cecropia sciadophylla,
Fauna
There is no faunistic inventory Due to its location similar to neighboring parks, such as the Duida – Marahuaca, it is considered quite varied. Mammals have reported species such as the tiger or jaguar Panthera onca, tapirus tapirus terrestris, the monkey araguato Alouatta seniculus, spider monkey Ateles belzebuth, the marmoset Saimiri sciureus, the nocturnal monkey Aotus trivirgatus, the rare species of the chucuto monkey Cacajao melanocephalus The avifauna is represented by the mountain hen Tinamus major, the red partridge Odonthoporus guyanensis, paují Nothocrax urumutum, toucans as the red-billed pineapple Ramphastos tucanus and the tilingo Pteroglosus pluricinctus. Among the reptiles are: the water snake or anaconda Eunectes murinus, the tragavenado Boa constrictor and the crocodile of the Orinoco Crocodylus intermedius.
recommendations
All activities are strictly restricted, except for research and daycare, which require permits issued by the National Parks Institute (INPARQUES).
The natural inhabitants of this area must be respected in their customs and traditions.
It is reached by fluvial route following the waters of the Orinoco.
For more information, contact the Regional Office of Inparques Amazonas. Main street of the Union District Amazonas Funeral Building. Puerto Ayacucho. Edo. Amazon.
Forbidden activities
 Commercial fishing, hunting, extraction of species of flora and fauna, discharge of polluting substances to courses and water mirrors, sports competitions that concentrate large numbers of people, use of sound equipment that disturb the tranquility of the park, take photographs or films for commercial purposes without prior authorization, carry firearms or any other that may cause damage to natural resources.