Yacambú National Park, National park in Lara, Venezuela

Yacambú National Park protects the southern slope of the Sierra de Portuguesa, part of the Andean foothills in southern Lara state. Its highest parts carry humid cloud forest where bucare, araguaney and oak trees grow, and about 60 of Venezuela's orchid species, 14% of the national total, occur here. Mammals include the araguato monkey, matacán and caramerudo deer, cachicamo and oso melero; the guacharaca bird and snakes such as the cascabel and boa constrictor are also present.

Yacambú National Park was created in 1962 to protect part of the Yacambú river basin, whose waters are intended to fill the José María Ochoa Pilé reservoir, a project still under construction. The reservoir is meant to supply drinking water to Barquisimeto and support farming in the dry Quíbor valleys, where a sustainable-use area was set aside. The sources give no indigenous origin for the park's name.

The park protects the Yacambú river basin, whose water is intended for the José María Ochoa Pilé reservoir, still under construction, to supply Barquisimeto and irrigate the dry Quíbor valleys. In those valleys a sustainable-use area has been set aside for farming. The name Yacambú comes from the river the park was created to safeguard.

The park lies on the southern slope of the Sierra de Portuguesa, in southern Lara state, and is reached from the Barquisimeto area; the Yacambú river basin it protects feeds the José María Ochoa Pilé reservoir, still under construction. Cloud forest covers the highest parts, so expect cooler, wetter conditions there than in the dry Quíbor valleys nearby.

About 14% of Venezuela's known orchids grow here, roughly 60 species, in the cloud forests of the upper slopes. The park was created in 1962 to protect the Yacambú river basin, whose water is meant for the José María Ochoa Pilé reservoir, still under construction, to supply Barquisimeto and the dry Quíbor valleys.