CAÑO CRISTALES

Day 1: City –Caño Cristales (B/L/D)

This day we will take a charter flight  from the city of Villavicencio or Bogotá around 6 am, to the municipality of La Macarena (1 hour). Upon arrival we will have the last opportunity to buy items such as waterproof capes, medicines, food and items for personal use. After this, we will receive an induction talk at the office of National Parks, the entit  in charge of assigning our trails to visit each day.

At this point, the transfer to La Macarena Natural National Park begins, which consists of three parts: The first part is a 15-minute boat ride with a possible stop at “Caño Cristalitos”, where we can visit a turtle hatchery and take a short walk to one of the arms of the river, to observe its colors. The second part consists of a transfer of 20 minutes in a 4×4 truck, to a point where vehicles are no longer allowed. The third and last part of the transfer is done on foot and consists of a walk of about 20 minutes to the hotel. After the accommodation, we might watch the sunset and contemplate the beautiful colors of the “Tourist pool” and the “Los Ochos sector”, depending mostly on weather conditions.

After this we return to the hotel and have dinner, before we head to our rooms to rest.

Day 2: Caño Cristales (B/L/D)

After breakfast, we will do the walk assigned to us for that day by National Parks and Cormacarena. The shorter trails can be complemented with visits to other sectors of the river.

The tour will be accompanied by a local guide (the local guide is mandatory. The entrance to the park is not allowed without him) and the lunch will depend on the path. During the longer tours, we will have a box lunch (typical cold lunch, prepared by locals) for the shorter paths, we will return to the hotel to have our lunch there.

Return to hotel, dinner and overnight

Day 3: Caño Cristales – City (B/L/-)

After breakfast we will take a short tour of the surroundings of the hotel and perhaps visit the nearest wells (“Tourist Pool”, “Los Ochos)”, if we have permission from National Parks for that area.

Then we will return to the hotel to pack our bags and have lunch before we head back to la Macarena. (Depending on the departure time of the plane, lunch may also be taken in La Macarena.) We will leave the hotel approximately two hours before the flight. We will take the same route as on day 1 but in the opposite direction. Flight back to Bogotá or Villavicencio

“Traveling with us you will support the community of the Serrania de la Macarena by staying in a rural hotel, which in turn is the closest to Caño Cristales, which makes the most of the time, since daily transfers that must be made from La Macarena by boat and vehicle (3 hours round trip) are avoided.”