Qualla: Noel Kempff Mercado National Park

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park: Introduction

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew Z. Colvin, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Huanchaca Plateau rises from the Bolivian lowlands like a fortress wall -- 42,000 hectares of undisturbed cerrado grassland sitting atop ancient sandstone, separated from the surrounding rainforest by sheer cliffs. Waterfalls plunge over the escarpment's edge: the 80-meter El Encanto Falls, the Frederico Ahlfeld Falls, the Arcoiris (Rainbow) Falls. Below the plateau, the forest shifts through a mosaic of habitats so varied that the park harbors an estimated 4,000 species of vascular plants and some of the most diverse bird communities in the Americas. Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, covering over 1.5 million hectares on Bolivia's border with Brazil, is where two of South America's great biomes collide.

Image: Andrew Z. Colvin | CC BY-SA 4.0

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park: Where Two Worlds Meet

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gabriela Villanueva, CC BY-SA 4.0. The park sits on the Brazilian Shield in northeastern Santa Cruz Department, with the Itenez River forming its eastern and northern border against Brazil. This is a transition zone, and the geography makes the transitions visible. Amazon rainforest dominates the western lowlands,...

Image: Gabriela Villanueva | CC BY-SA 4.0

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park: A Biologist's Name on the Map

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Maral Hurtado Miranda, CC BY-SA 4.0. Founded on June 28, 1979, the park was originally named Parque Nacional Huanchaca after the plateau at its heart. Less than a decade later, in 1988, it was renamed in honor of Noel Kempff Mercado, a pioneering Bolivian biologist and conservationist who had championed the region's...

Image: Maral Hurtado Miranda | CC BY-SA 4.0

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park: The Menagerie Below the Plateau

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Migabol, CC BY-SA 4.0. The park's fauna inventory reads like a field guide to South American wildlife. At least 139 mammal species have been recorded, including jaguars, lowland tapirs, giant anteaters, giant armadillos, spider monkeys, howler monkeys, river dolphins, and maned wolves. The 620 bird spe...

Image: Migabol | CC BY-SA 4.0

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park: Forests in the Balance

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Maral Hurtado Miranda, CC BY-SA 4.0. Research into the park's fifty-thousand-year vegetation history reveals that the boundary between rainforest and savanna has shifted repeatedly in response to climate. During wetter periods, tropical forest expanded onto the plateau and into areas currently held by cerrado. A dri...

Image: Maral Hurtado Miranda | CC BY-SA 4.0