Bahía Portete – Kaurrele National Natural Park, with an area of 14,080 hectares (34,800 acres), is located in the extreme north of Colombia, at the northern coast of La Guajira peninsula between Cabo de la Vela and Punta Gallinas, Colombia's mainland northernmost point.

[3] At the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century, the bay was known as El Portichuelo, an area where slaves were brought into Colonial Colombia.

The indigenous communities of the Wayuu, Kamushiwoü, Alijunao, Yariwanischi, Puerto Portete, Ian, Youlepa, Kayuuswaarraaloü and Punta Cosos Espacios contributed in the planning of the establishment of the protected area.

Common land plants are the cactus Opuntia wentiana and the mangrove tree Avicennia germinans.

[13] Meadows of sea grasses of Thalassia testudinum and Syringodium are widely distributed in the marine portion of the park.