What to do in Colombia in 2023: from bustling streets to hidden corners of the Amazon

If you are looking for a new one adventure for you and your family, look no further than Colombia, writes Kate Wickers.

We go tubing near Tayrona National Park, on the Rio Don Diego in northern Colombia; we float with the current on rubber rings, letting the current guide us past tall mango trees populated by curious howler monkeys emitting deep, guttural roars. My sons, Freddie, 17, and Ben, 20, are trying to lure their father from the boat when our guide encourages him to look at the bank. There a small caiman blinks back at us.

“Don’t worry! “They are so big on this river,” our guide quickly assures. It turns out our scaly, grinning friend is Cuvier’s dwarf caiman, a minnow compared to the six-metre caimans we’ve seen elsewhere. Spectacular wildlife encounters aside, Colombia, which reached a peace agreement seven years ago, is the safest country ever.

We spent the first two days shaking off jet lag in the rainy, Andean-surrounded capital of Bogota. The Museo del Oro (one of South America’s finest museums with a collection of over 55,000 artifacts) provides a fascinating insight into pre-Hispanic cultures, in a time when salt was a more valuable commodity and gold was so abundant that decadent jewelry was worn. everyone. The bohemian neighborhood of Candelaria, full of 300-year-old houses, is where Bogota began, and is now famous for its street musicians (gypsy kings playing pipes?), street art and thriving cafe culture (Plaza de Chorro del Quevedo). best place for people watching). Don’t miss the nearby Botero Museum, with its extensive collection of sculptures and paintings by Colombia’s most famous living artist (now 91), known for his iconic, proportionately exaggerated comic figures.

Arriving in Santa Marta, in the very north of the country, we peel back the layers as the temperature rises and remains steady at 30. We’re here to explore the Tayrona National Park: 12,000 hectares fringed by 30 golden beaches lapped by wild waters. Caribbean waters (the currents here are incredibly strong). The 16km hike takes in many of its highlights and we soon spot an anteater and cottonmouth tamarin peeking out from under the leaf canopy and an iguana camouflaged in the branches. We buy coconut juice from the white-robed Kogi natives (the official guardians of the forest), who skillfully crack open the nut with a machete and then make a stopper to create a natural drinking bottle. Arriving at the beach of Cabo San Juan del Guia, a double horseshoe of soft sand and considered one of the most beautiful in Colombia, we plunge into the water, calmed by a natural breakwater of granite boulders. Lunch is a picnic of red snapper and coconut rice, eaten on the sand.

Maloca Barlovento is located where the Piedras River flows into the Caribbean Sea and is an ideal place for solitude. We soon lose all sense of time and become nature-oriented, rising early in the morning for a walk along the beach, accompanied by snowy egrets and turkey vultures that catch morsels washed ashore at night, and heading for cocktails at the Sierra Beach Hut and Bar when the flies begin mice. fly over the silhouettes of palm trees in search of dinner.

Pirates of the Caribbean comes to mind when we arrive in Cartagena, Colombia’s Caribbean jewel, with its UNESCO-protected old town filled with colonial houses built in the 16th century by mining the gold brought by the conquistadors from South America to Spain, which also made the city a frequent destination target for pirates to rob. We wander through cinematic cobblestone streets to the sound of salsa music emanating from the wooden balconies adorned with geraniums belonging to pastel-colored houses. Horses and carts clatter lazily as they transport heat-weary tourists, and old men in Panama hats put the world to rights in palm tree-filled plazas.

While the old town has great romantic charm, Getsemani, located just outside las muralhas (city walls), pulses day and night, teeming with impressive street art, beautiful backpacker hostels, hole-in-the-wall bars and renowned eateries. including Selele, ranked No. 19 on the list of the 50 Best Latin American Restaurants. Pull up a chair at Cafe Trinidad, order coconut lemonade, and watch young rappers at work, spitting out candy bars to tourists for a few pesos. “More sass than Cameron Diaz” is my favorite line.

An hour’s ride on a shared speedboat takes you to Islas de Rosario, a longtime vacation spot for wealthy Colombians (some of the tiniest islands have only one private home). We swim in crystal clear waters among schools of yellow tangs and unicorn fish while snorkeling; then relax on the soft beach while enjoying the novelty of ordering a mojito from a floating “kayak bar” floating by. Shaggy and Hendrix provide the soundtrack and the atmosphere is pure Caribbean, with fishermen coming ashore with lobsters and crabs and compelling grilled seafood lunch offerings.

Getting to Calanoa Amazonas in the Amazon, a 50-hectare private reserve located in Amakayaku National Park near the Peruvian border, requires determination. We fly to Leticia via Bogota, then taxi to a ramshackle port to catch a canoe along a tributary of the mighty Amazon River, where a speedboat awaits to take us another 60km upriver. With the glitter of the wings of the blue and gold macaw and the cherry nose of the pink dolphin (native of the Amazon), this seems like our greatest adventure. Conde Nast’s 2021 Gold List, Kalanoa has seven unique cabins and is a flag for sustainable luxury in the region (though come here without air conditioning or an a la carte menu). Our accommodation is a two-story palm-roofed hut with mosquito-draped beds and a veranda with a hammock overlooking the river, where we note that we have seen a horned screamer, a great egret, a weaver bird and an Amazonian kingfisher. (Colombia is home to 20 percent of the world’s bird species.) After dark we put on our rubber boots and go for a night walk with Jorge, a Tikuna guide. Phosphorescent mushrooms glow ghostly white; Brazilian white-knee tarantulas emerge from their burrows, ready to protect their young; and the highlight of this eerie excursion are three poisonous fruit fly frogs, ranitomeya amazonica: their black and white spotted legs and backsides are so exquisitely at odds with the black and orange stripe on their backs and heads.

Mocagua Island can be reached by motor canoe, crossing the invisible border that separates Colombia from Peru. We head up the Matamata Creek, past black vultures feeding on the deep red ripe fruits of the kapok tree, to where a small wooden jetty is hidden among the foliage. “I want to see where director Peter Jackson came up with the idea of ​​creating Ents. Lord of the Rings? – asks Herman, our guide. Freddy brings me up to speed, explaining that Ents are humanoid walking trees as we make a winding path to a clearing dominated by Socratea exorrhiza with long, stilt-like roots that can move to reach sunlight by “walking through” up to 3 cm per day. Next we find the strangler fig, which has caused destruction over 100 meters in the air, and its vines are strong enough to swing like Tarzan. Victoria Amazonian lotus blooms in small swamps; Dancing butterflies blur on its huge green pads. The highlight is the discovery of an owl peering out of a hollow tree, which turns out to be an aotus (commonly called an owl monkey), the best camouflaged and shyest of the Amazon primates.

“Come on, mom, what’s the worst that can happen?” – a cry is heard as I wander along the river bank. Before we head home, my sons have one more experience to celebrate: swimming in piranha-infested waters (knowing that Hollywood will have a lot to answer for in demonizing these harmless, sharp-toothed night-stalkers). There was no way to Google offline whether this was smart or not, so we kayak with a guide to a “safe” creek for swimming. The Colombians’ lust for life as they enjoy the most freedom they have had in decades has definitely rubbed off on me, and so I jump into the fray to join my family with a whoop.

Data

With the exception of Maloca Barlovento and Calanoa Amazonas, Kate Wickers and her family traveled with Hayes & Jarvis, experts in creating customized holiday itineraries. 10 night/11 day tours from NZ$8,050 per person based on two people sharing. www.hayesandjarvis.co.uk

Double rooms at Finca Barlovento start from around 4,318 per night, including breakfast. fincabarlovento.com

Calanoa Amazonas costs $325 per person per night. Children under 12 years old receive a 10 percent discount. Included: full board, two activities per day and Spanish-speaking guides. Boat transfer: USD 500 roundtrip for a group of up to four people. English speaking guides ($115 per day). Calanoaamazonas.com

Checklists

COLOMBIA

GET THERE

Air NZ, American Airlines and LATAM fly from Auckland to Bogota Airport with one stop in Houston, Dallas or Santiago, Chile.

DETAILS

colombia.travel/en