Description

 This park is the country’s largest conservation area, covering an area of 720,000 hectares.  It is the platform site for the Paraguayan Chaco Biosphere Reserve, recognized by UNESCO in 2005. The name “Defensores del Chaco” (Defenders of the Chaco) is in memory of the soldiers who fought in the Chaco War against Bolivia; also, for nature lovers it could have another meaning such as “Defenders of Nature of the Chaco."  Until the end of the 19th Century, this was the land of indigenous people who inhabited and baptized the area Chaco, word derived from the Quechua language word chacu which means hunting place.

   In addition to protecting an excellent sample of the Dry Chaco Ecoregion, with its low, thorn forests, the national park preserves the mountainous region of Cerro Leon (Lion Hill). It is a unique geological feature on the Gran Chaco Plain. It is really a small mountain formation of numerous hills with a 22-kilometer diameter and a maximum height of 604 meters above sea level. The mountain stream ravines are also unique in the Chaco.     

  In addition to protecting an excellent sample of the Dry Chaco Ecoregion, with its low, thorn forests, the national park preserves the mountainous region of Cerro Leon (Lion Hill). It is a unique geological feature on the Gran Chaco Plain. It is really a small mountain formation of numerous hills with a 22-kilometer diameter and a maximum height of 604 meters above sea level. The mountain stream ravines are also unique in the Chaco.