Podocarpus National Park

Podocarpus National Park is located in the provinces of Zamora Chinchipe and Loja, in the south-east of Ecuador created in 1982. It covers 146,280 km², from two spurs of the eastern range of the Andes to the basins of the Nangaritza, Numbala and Loyola rivers. About 85% of the park is in the province of Zamora Chinchipe and the remainder in the province of Loja. Here was discovered a new specie of bird, the Jocotoco.

The Podocarpus National Park holds a complex of more than 100 lagoons, among the best-known is lagunas del Compadre. The park has two main entrances corresponding to its two ecological zones. One is in 'Cajanuma Sector' in the high zone. The other is in 'Bombuscaro Sector',

The park owns an exceptional flora, and has been considered the 'Botanical Garden of America'. Its high and low mountain-forest ecosystems, located in the Nudo de Sabanilla pass, and its very humid mountain and pre montane forests in the basin of the Numbala River, have more than 4,000 species of plants including trees that can measure up to 40 meters, like the romerillo (Podocarpus glometatus) which gives its name to the park, and many other valuable species like the Chinchona - the national tree of Ecuador - and a huge variety of orchids.