Wildlife Explorations in the Amazon Jungle of Peru

Pacaya Samiria National Reserve in Peru

The Pacaya Samiria National Reserve is a protected area of ​​Peru located in the Loreto Region, Peruvian Amazon. With an area of ​​2,080,000 ha (20,800 km²) it is the largest National Reserve in Peru, the second most protected natural area in the country (after the Alto Purús National Park) and the fourth protected area in all of South America. It is also the most extensive protected area of ​​the Amazon flood (ecosystem known as Várzea) in South America, due to this it was designated RAMSAR site on August 28, 1986. According to the categories of protected areas of IUCN, it is considered as «Area protected from managed resources »

The extension of the reserve represents 1.5% of the Peruvian territory and 6% of the Loreto region, it is also somewhat larger than the surface of Slovenia and comparable to 50% of the territory of Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands or Costa Rica or the 23% of Portugal, which ensures the ecological and genetic representativeness of the region.

It comprises about 208 populated centers with approximately 40 thousand people living within the area and 50 thousand in the buffer zone. There are 56 native communities affiliated with indigenous organizations: AIDECOS, AIDEMA, ACOIBAHM, ADECOP and ACODECOSPAT. Both the native population (belonging to the Cocama-Cocamilla ethnic group), as well as the mestizo population, subsist on the use of the natural resources of the reserve.