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PARKS AND TRIBES

PUYANGO PETRIFIED FOREST, ECUADOR [2023]

Puyango Petrified Forest, Ecuador

The Petrified Forest of Puyango, the largest petrified wood deposit of the Americas, is fantastic reserve with great trails in Southern Ecuador. Its earliest fossils are of marine animals. When the sea dried up the area became covered with  forests. Some of the trees and plants became petrified, when they were covered with sediments. Millions of years later, those fossils  rose to the surfaced again with the rising of the Andes. The ages of the fossils vary from 60 million 500 million years old.

The Araucarioxylon genus is the most common species and dates back some 100 million years; The largest trunk is 2 m wide and 15 m long. Fossilized leaves represent 4 genera of primitive ferns and palms. The paleobotanist who discovered the petrified foerwst, Dr. Robert E. Shoemaker, carried out investigations from 1975 to 1976. With so many petrified trees concentrated in such a small area it is considered one of the largest petrified forest remains in the world. The importance of the reserve is comparable to Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park in the United States.

Getting there

The reserve is located, on the banks of the Puyango River at 111 km from Machala and 280 km from the city of Loja.

Protection

The Petrified Forest of Puyango was legally declared  a protected forest by ministerial decree No. 002 on January 9, 1987, totalling ​​2658 ha of  which only about 100 ha are fully protected with a vegetation recovery program. The rest of the area is privately owned.

On August 15, 2002, in the context of decentralization, deconcentration and transfer of functions, powers, responsibilities, management and control was transferred to the Provincial Council of Loja.

The trail

The guided walk takes anywhere between half an hour and an hour. Some fossils are found on the banks of a stream with clean and clear water, where you will find enormous trunks that correspond to the Jurassic period which had its greatest development about 120 billion years ago.

At the end of the trail, is of one of the largest and best preserved petrified trees in the entire reserve with an approximate original length of 80 meters by about 8 meters in diameter, about one third of which you will find on the ground.

Climate

The forest is located between 360 and 500 meters above sea level and has an average temperature of 22.5 grados C.

The vegetation is a typical tropical seasonally deciduous forest with very little rainfall during the dry season from May to December. Most of the yearly 900mm of rainfall falls between January to April. While officially recommended for visiting during the dry season, I don't agree at all. During the wet season the forest is beautifully green, and a bit of a drizzle should not spoil your joy. So, visiting year around is my recommendation.

Flora

Some enormeous petrinos trees, Cavanillesia Platanifolia, of which the tallest, the about 300 year old "Giant", stands 35 m tall and 2 m at the base. Other conspicuous trees are ceibos, potos, guapala, pechiche, hualtaco, puyangos, guayacanes, laureles, guasimos, caciques, cedros, palo santo, fig, limoncillo, almendro, etc. Small trees and shrubs include: amancay, vines, orchids, chaquiro, pastos, ortiga, matico and many that flower in the dry season with an abundance of flowers, which is typical for decidous try tropical forest.