El Cajas

The Cajas National Park ( Parque Nacional El Cajas Spanish ) is a 28 808 -hectare national park in the highlands of Ecuador. It is between 3100 m and 4450 m above sea level. The hilly landscape offers a tundra vegetation and has about 270 lakes and lagoons. It is located about 30 km west of Cuenca, the capital of the province of Azuay.

The area was declared a sanctuary in 1977 and reported on 5 November 1996 as a national park. As a Ramsar wetland of international importance and it is classified as an Important Bird Area.

An old Inca road, which remained largely in their original condition, crosses the park. She joined the City of Tumipampa, today Cuenca, with Paredones, a current accumulation in ruins control point for trade between the highlands and the coastal region, located in the territory of today's Molleturo along the road that crosses the Cajas and then to Naranjal in the coastal region leads.

Also traces of 96 were pre-Inca villages in the Canary found.

The National Park provides protection for a variety of endemic and endangered animals. Particularly noteworthy are the Andean condor, only 80 exist from that in Ecuador, the Curiquinga, a large black and white bird of prey, Tapaculos, Schopfkarakaras, Ameisenpittas ( Grallaria quitensis ), the Giant Hummingbird lives only from agave flowers, and in the Cajas National Park endemic hummingbird purple -throated Glanzschwänzchen ( Metallura baroni ). Other species that can be found in the national park, spectacled bear, mountain tapir, puma, ocelot, tiger cat are ( Tigrillo ), toucans, foxes and rabbits.