Calilegua National Park, National park of the Southern Andean Yungas in Jujuy Province, Argentina.
Calilegua National Park protects 76,306 hectares on the eastern slopes of the Sierra de Calilegua, in Jujuy's Ledesma Department. Provincial Route 83 crosses three vegetation belts: the jungle foothills, the mountain forest and the mountain woods. Dense dark green forest covers jagged ridges above a pale gravel riverbed and bright green fields.
The park grounds contain archaeological remains from indigenous settlements, including pottery and stone tools from before the Inca arrival in the 15th century. These artifacts show that the area was inhabited long before European contact.
Kolla communities living around the park preserve their traditions and way of life today. Visitors can observe how these people maintain their customs in the surrounding territories.
From National Route 34, Provincial Route 83, the Scenic Route of the Yungas, climbs 8 km to the park entrance; nine trails start along this road, from the 10-minute La Herradura and Bosque del Cielo walks to the 5-hour Tatapuá and La Junta routes. A bus leaves the Libertador General San Martín terminal daily at 8:30 for Valle Grande and returns in the afternoon. Rainfall, up to 1,800 mm a year, concentrates between November and April, and frosts occur at higher altitudes in winter.
The park's name is usually linked to Aymara and translated as "Stone Lookout". Its lower slopes hold the only patch of piedmont jungle among Argentina's Yungas parks, a transition zone where dry Chaco forest meets humid mountain forest, with cebil colorado, tipa blanca and pink lapacho.
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