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Sarigua National Park was created in 1985 and is on on the coast of the Gulf of Parita in the province of Herrera. Sarigua National Park can be reached by road via the towns of Santa María and Parita. You can also access the park by sea. The park has an administrative office and a visitor center with tours from local guides. Sarigua National Park is 240 kilometers from Panama City.
The Sarigua National Park occupies a coastal fringe on the Pacific Coast of Panama between the mouths of the Rivers Maria and Parita. With an area of 8,000 hectares the park is divided into three different areas: 3,500 hectares of semi-desert area, 3,000 hectares of sea and 1,500 hectares of fragmented soils. Inside the park are the remains of the oldest Pre-Columbian Indian village in Panama, which dates from around 9,500 to 7,000 BC. It was a settlement that belonged to a fishing community.
This is the driest region of the Panama Isthmus, with an average annual rainfall of 1,100 mm, and an average annual temperature of 27º C. The protected area extends over a fragile coastal ecosystem known as “albina”. It is today a completely deforested area as the trees were all felled during attempts to colonise the area in the second half of the twentieth century.
The process of salt concentration of the parks grounds has formed a desert-like landscape. The beauty of this desert landscape with deep gullies caused by erosion, is one of the attractions of this national park. Mangrove swamps along the coasts are breeding grounds for shrimps.
As well as the mangrove, trees found here include laurel, potbellied and carate, barrigon (Pseudobombax septenatum) and with many other slow growing trees. Home of the galinut, unique tree of the area.
Wildlife is scarce, in this desert-like environment, but along
the coastal plain there are sea birds including flocks of pelicans. 162 migratory
birds have been recorded. There are also kingfishers, sonarcas and butterflies.
Hotels available in Chitre and La
Villa de los Santos near the park.