Sierra Nevada National Park protects the highest section of the Venezuelan Andes, in Mérida state. The country’s summits are here: Pico Bolívar (4,978 m), Humboldt and Bonpland. It was declared a national park on 2 May 1952.
The sierra losing its ice
The figure that defines Sierra Nevada today is not its height, it is its thaw. Around 1910 the glacier surface of the area was about 10 km². By 2018 it had fallen below 0.1 km². It is one of the best-documented glacier contractions in the tropics, and it means the landscape in the park’s classic imagery — snow-capped summits all year — is no longer the one you find.
It is still, even so, one of the few places in Venezuela where it snows every year.
The levels of the park
Sierra Nevada is walked from the bottom up and each stretch is a different ecosystem:
- Cloud forest on the middle slopes, with pine and cedar among other species.
- Páramo above the treeline, dominated by the frailejón, the plant that makes it possible for these systems to hold water.
- High mountain, rock and residual ice on the summits.
The rivers and streams that come off the sierra are the fresh water source for the whole region: this is not a park «of landscape», it is the water catchment of Mérida.
Wildlife
Among the mammals, the spectacled bear and the Andean deer. Among the birds, the golden eagle and the giant hummingbird; the Andean condor is cited for the area. There are trout in the rivers.
How it is visited
The base is Mérida, at the foot of the park. There are two very different ways in:
- The cable car, which climbs to Pico Espejo, above 4,700 m. It is the fast way to the high mountain, with no walking.
- On foot, along the park routes, including the Mucubají lake and the páramo walks. Climbing the summits is mountaineering and is done with a guide.
Across the valley
North of Mérida, facing Sierra Nevada, is the La Culata range: the same frailejón landscape with much easier access. Together the two make up the Venezuelan Andes. The rest of the country’s protected areas are in the national parks of Venezuela.