A floating station renewed on the Putumayo River.
Between August and November 2024, for Colombia’s National Natural Parks, MARA renovated the Guacamaya control station (balsa de control Guacamaya) of La Paya National Natural Park: a two-storey floating timber station built in 1998 that had gone more than ten years without maintenance. The work covered 210 m²: a new roof, timber walls and joinery, ceilings, railings and walkways, electrical and plumbing systems, locks and insect screens, and maintenance of the two pontoons that keep it afloat.
Colombian Amazon, at Puerto Leguízamo.
The station sits on the Putumayo River in the municipality of Puerto Leguízamo (Putumayo), and is the base from which the park team patrols the rivers, monitors biodiversity, runs environmental education and supports research. This is the Amazon: a humid tropical climate with rain all year round and temperatures of 24 to 28 °C.
First, it had to come out of the water.
To work on it, the station was moved about 100 meters upriver and hauled out onto a lot owned by the Municipality of Puerto Leguízamo. More than 12 tons of materials arrived by road and river, and the Putumayo was not always high enough for boats to pass. A fuel shortage at the town’s power plant also made it hard to use power tools.
Timber, a light roof and overhauled pontoons.
The old roof was removed and 160 m² of insulated roofing was installed. Damaged boards were replaced, about 490 m² of timber walls were scraped and some 580 m² painted; tongue-and-groove ceilings with rock-wool insulation, new exterior timber decking and railings were installed, timber doors and windows were repainted, and new locks and metal insect screens were fitted. To avoid reducing the station’s buoyancy, the planned steel beams were replaced with timber beams.
The electrical system —panel, outlets and lighting— and the plumbing were renewed, with toilets, sinks and a 500-liter water tank. The two flotation pontoons were removed, overhauled, painted and refitted.
Ready to keep protecting the park from the river.
A station completed in November 2024, in three months and with no accidents, back on the river with a renewed roof, timber, utilities and pontoons so the National Parks team can keep working from the water.
