The park was established as part of the Bolivian national parks system in September 1995.

Areas of the park have historically been occupied by indigenous populations, most notably Guaranís toward the western side of the park and Chiquitanos toward the north. Indigenous villages can be found in those areas, though no known settlements are in the park's interior.

The landscape is mostly savannah with wide-open grasslands. It is fairly flat with elevations throughout ranging from 100 meters above sea level to the top of its highest hill at just over 800 meters. The northwest region of the park has large wetland areas along the Parapetí River. There are large areas of tropical forest.

The park is rich in biodiversity with a number of endemic and endangered plant and animal species.

The park is known to have about 90 kinds of snake, more than 300 species of bird, 65 species of small mammals and about 60 species of large mammal.

Some of the more interesting mammals in the park includes the Chacoan peccary, which locals call the tagua. Other species of peccary are also found in the park, such as the White-lipped peccary. The park is known for its large population of predators, particularly large felines such as the puma, jaguar, and ocelot. The endangered maned wolf can also be found here as well as smaller feline predators and pampas deer. Guanacos live in the southeast area of the park and various cavies live everywhere, including the endemic Chacoan mara (which looks like a large rabbit with small ears, but is actually more closely related to a capybara than a rabbit).

Among the 300 bird species in the park are Bare-faced curassows, Harpy eagle and Black-and-whie hawk eagle.