talamancae, otter, and brocket deer. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is home to a number of ecoregions, which vary with elevation. The Guajira–Barranquilla xeric scrub region lies near the Caribbean seacoast to the north of the range. The Sinú Valley dry forests cover the range's lower slopes, up to an elevation of . The Santa Marta montane forests lie above . The montane forests are separated from other moist forests by the lower-elevation dry forests and xeric shrublands, and have large numbers of endemic species. The montane forest ecoregion has several distinct plant communities, distinguished by altitude and rainfall; moist lowland forests cover the windward northern and western flanks of the range between , and the drier eastern and southern flanks from . Above is a transitional forest zone of smaller trees and palms. Cloud forests occur above ; the Sub-Andean forests from form a canopy tall, while the higher-elevation Andean forests, between , grow to in height. The Santa Marta Páramo, a high altitude belt of montane grasslands and shrublands interspersed with marshes and acid bogs, occupies the zone between . The Santa Marta Páramo is the northernmost enclave of Páramo in South America, which occur along the Andes belt. Above lies the permanent snow cap. National Natural Park The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Natural Park () is Colombia's second oldest national park, established in 1964. It is located in the Cordillera Oriental range, between the departments of La Guajira, Magdalena and Cesar, in the mountain range of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. It is a sanctuary as well as a tourist attraction, because it offers different climate, terrain, flora and fauna environments, ranging from beaches to snowy mountain peaks. Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Natural Park is considered a unique place in the world, due to its isolation from the Andes, and its highest peak ( above sea level) is located just away from the sea. All the water courses that originate in the national park drain to the Caribbean sea whether directly (e. g. rivers Ranchería, Don Diego, Palomino, Buritaca, Guachaca, Cañas, etc.) or through the Magdalena River system that includes the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta, (e.g. rivers Cesar, Ariguaní, Fundación, Frío, Aracataca, etc.). Roughly 1.2 million people are dependent upon the freshwater supplied by the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta rivers. There are currently about 30,000 indigenous people of the