Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary
Malpelo Island and the surrounding marine environment are located 500 kilometers west of mainland Colombia. This vast marine park, the largest no-fishing zone in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. It has a land area of 0.35 square kilometers (86 acres). The highest point, “El Cerro de La Mona”, is 376 m above sea level.
The island is a largely barren oceanic rock. Plant species are few and small: ferns, leguminous and grassy shrubs, mosses, lichens and algae which are also widespread underwater.
Sea birds like the pique, the tijereta de mar and the pico rojo nest on the hilltops, which serve them as a way station.
Malpelo holds a unique shark population; swarms of 500 hammerhead sharks and hundreds of silky sharks.
Endemic to the island are one crab species, two starfish, various species of coralline fish, and two reptiles.
As it is an oceanic island at quite a distance from the continent, Malpelo is a living laboratory, ideal for scientific research, as well as nature tourism-related activities like diving.
UNESCO declared the area a World Natural Heritage Site by virtue of its marine biodiversity!
