GENERAL INFORMATION

• Area: 145.000 acres (58.560 ha)
• Date of Creation: October 26, 1987
• Altitude: 12.467 — 20.703 ft (3.800 — 6.310 m)

The Chimborazo is the highest peak of Ecuador, and beside it lies the smaller Carihuairazo volcano. Both are surrounded by a paramo life zone that is teeming with fauna, the reason why the reserve was established as refuge for the reproduction of all kinds of mountainous animals. Although part of the reserve still has paramo vegetation, a large portion is a desert-like plain caused by the fall of volcanic material and by the shepherding activities of nearby communities