Henri Pittier National Park

Henri Pittier National Park is the oldest national park in Venezuela, originally created in 1937 under the name of Rancho Grande by decree of President Eleazar López Contreras. The park was renamed in 1953 with the name of Henri Pittier, a distinguished Swiss geographer, botanist and ethnologist, who arrived in Venezuela in 1917, classified more than 30,000 plants in the country and devoted many years studying the flora and fauna in the park.

Henry Pittier National Park has the honor of having started the history of national parks of Venezuela. It has an area of 107,800 hectares, located in the north of Aragua state, comprising most of the Araguan costs and mountainous area of Carabobo state also borders the San Esteban National Park. Henri Pittier National Park is the largest among the national parks of the Venezuelan Coastal Range.

The park consists of two geographic systems: a steep mountain, where there are more than 500 bird species and 22 endemic species. The second system is the coastal area with bays, beaches and resorts of a huge tourism potential. There is a great diversity of flora and vegetation. The park is an Important Bird Area.

In the park there are nine major rivers and it is an important source of water for cities and towns that surround it. There is also the land where some of the best cacao in the world is cultivated, especially in the village of Chuao.