National Park Los Roques Archipelago
Los Roques archipelago is a federal dependency of Venezuela consisting of approximately 350
islands, cays, and islets in a total area of 40.61 square kilometers. The archipelago is located
128 kilometers (80 mi) directly north of the port of La Guaira.
The islands' pristine coral reef attracts many wealthy visitors, especially from Europe, some of
whom come in their own yachts and anchor in the inner, protected shallow waters. Development
and tourism are controlled.
Because of the wide variety of seabirds and rich aquatic life, the Venezuelan government
declared Los Roques a National Park in 1972.
Demographics
The archipelago is sparsely populated, having about 1,500 permanent inhabitants; however it
receives approximately 70,000 visitors a year, many of them day-visitors who come from
Caracas and the mainland.
Geography
The major islands of the archipelago have an atoll structure, with two external barriers formed by
coral communities, and an inner lagoon and sandy shallows. The park consists of 40.61 km²,
1500 km² of coral reefs, 42 coral cays surrounding a shallow central lagoon of 400 km², two
barrier reefs (24 km east and 32 km south) and 300 sand banks, islands and cays, ranging in
size from Cayo Grande (15.1 km²) to the Gran Roque (1.7 km²). Other important islands are
Francisqui, Nordisqui, Madrisqui, and Crasqui.
Infrastructure
El Gran Roque is the only populated island in the group. It has an airport suitable for small or
STOL aircraft, Los Roques Airport. The airport is controlled from the Maiquetía airport on the
mainland.
From El Gran Roque most visitors that arrive, go to the port and travel to the keys in small boats
called "peñeros" from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.
Attractions
Activities include fishing (bonefish, barracuda, tarpon, jack, and Spanish mackerel), birding,
snorkeling, diving, paddling, windsurfing, and kitesurfing, and there is a sea turtle research center
located on Dos Mosquises. Accommodations include Pez Raton Lodge, a property primarily used
to host fishing guests, Posada Mediterraneo, a five-room inn which accommodates non-fishing
guests, and dozens more like El Canto de la Ballena and Posada La Gaviota.
History
The islands were sighted by early European navigators, and in 1589 the governor of the
Venezuelan province ordered the formal takeover of these islands on behalf of the colony. The
Dutch considered Los Roques to belong to their island territory of Curaçao because of its
proximity to Bonaire which also belonged to the Dutch. The author M.D. Teenstra in 1836 still
writes (in his book The Dutch West Indies) : "The Government of Curaçao also includes the
uninhabited islets and rocks Little Curaçao, Aves, Roques and Orchilla." In 1871 the Venezuelan
president Antonio Guzmán Blanco created by decree the Territorio Colón (Columbus Territory)
which included Los Roques and other adjacent islands. The island of Gran Roque was named as
the center of territorial government.
Climate
The climate is warm and dry, with average annual temperature of 27.3 °C (81.1 °F) in July and
August, reaches a maximum of 34 °, and between September and January are presented
occasional rain, with relative humidity 83% annually. Rainfall is 256.6 mm (10.10 in) / year;
minimum 6.6 mm (0.26 in) (April) and maximum 52.2 mm (2.06 in) (November).
Demography
The population of the Roques concentrates mainly on the island of Gran Roque and to a lesser
extent its adjacent islets, for 1941, was estimated at about 484 people for 1950 reached 559, and
in 1987 663 permanent inhabitants. According to the Venezuelan census of 2001 1.209
inhabitants were counted, by 2008 it is estimated that the number of its inhabitants is around
1,800.
Its growth is limited because of restrictions involving the declaration as a national park in the
1970s most of the population is margariteño origin who came to the islands mainly to engage in
fishing since the early twentieth century in addition to the presence of small groups of foreigners
(mostly Italian).
