Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Natural Park is a large national park in the Caribbean coastal region of Colombia. The park is rugged terrain of mountainous forests and is inhabited by descendants of the Tayrona indigenous culture. The park is difficult to visit but is popular among adventure travelers who come for the multi-day jungle treks to visit the archaeological site of Ciudad Perdida.

Native Kogi village in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

Understand

The park is very large, covering a substantial area of the mountain range. The park spans 3,820 square kilometers.

Cultures

Group of Arhuaca hanging out by a lagoon

Foreign visitors seldom know much about the Indigenous cultures of South America aside from the fact that there was once a great society known as the Inca inhabiting large regions of the Andes. There was actually another great society that lived north of the Inca called the Muisca, and they had various splinter groups and branches of their language, among which were the Tayrona, who lived in what is today northern Colombia.

The Tayrona spoke a common language called Chibchan and the Tayrona in turn had their own splinter groups, including four that now live in the Sierra Santa Marta: the Kogi, a related group called the Arhuaco, the Kankuamo and the Wiwa. They each speak their own dialect of Chibchan. There are about 70,000 Tayrona people living within the park boundaries (fortunately, it's a big park). Park visitors will likely encounter natives and some tours include visits to a Kogi or Arhuac village for interaction with the locals.

History

The park has been inhabited by the Tayrona peoples for thousands of years. Ciudad Perdida was built around 800 AD.

Landscape

Steep mountains. Dense jungles. The base areas of the park are near sea level while the peaks of the two highest mountains in the park (Cerro Cristobal Colon peak and Cerro Simon Bolivar) top out at 5,775 meters. Climate conditions can vary considerably within the park with hot, very humid tropical jungle at lower elevations and cold, windy, dry conditions at upper elevations. Treks to Ciudad Perdida do not reach the colder elevations.

Flora and fauna

The park is home to a large number of animals including 49 endangered species. Some of the rarer animals in the park include the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus), tapir (Tapirus kabomani), jaguar (Panthera onca), paujil (Crax alberti) and páramo deer (Mazama rufina). Tales of venomous snakes and huge boa constrictors are true, but poisonous insects and disease-carrying mosquitos are far more common (see Dangerous animals).

Climate

Colombia is blessed with a consistent climate, which means you can hate life as you sweat like a hog whether you visit in summer or in winter!

Get in

Santa Marta has a commercial airport (SMR ^IATA) with several daily flights from Bogota and other Colombian cities via Avianca, LATAM, and Wingo airlines.

The only way to get into the park and to visit the archaeological ruins is to take a guided tour. The park is very big and the only way to get around is by hiking. It's typically a 2-day hike to reach the ruins, spend a few hours to a day there, then 2 days of hiking to get back to your pickup point. Tours can be arranged in Santa Marta, or you can find a tour operator and book in advance. The tour operator will typically tell you what to pack and what they will bring (equipment, meals, etc.) On the day your tour starts, they will come to your hotel very early in the morning with a 4-wheel drive truck and they will take you as far into the mountains as a vehicle can go. Then the hike starts. It's jungles and it's mountains so you'll be doing a lot of sweating and a lot of climbing (there's a 1,200 step ancient staircase you need to navigate too). After about 10 hours of strenuous hiking, you'll make camp for the night, then it's more hiking in the morning. Most trips are at least 4 or 5 days. There is allegedly a trip that cuts it down to 3 days which would be suitable for military veterans with special forces training who don't mind strapping on a 20-kilo pack and jogging up mountains for 11 hours to grab a few hours shuteye.

Fees and permits

Be sure to plan ahead and discuss any special requirements that need to be addressed ahead of time. (Park regulations require visitors to show proof of recent tetanus and yellow fever vaccines).

Get around

Hike with a guide.

See

Tourists at the Ciudad Perdida archaeological site

• Ciudad Perdida

Do

• Hike
• Explore
• Camp

Buy/Eat/Drink

There are no stores or businesses within the park. Bring anything you might need and pack out any trash.

Sleep

Backcountry

All visitors should expect to camp in the backcountry at unimproved sites using Leave No Trace principles. Tour operators will provide necessary equipment. Some of the trail sites are equipped with hammocks. An experimental station has bunks that may be usable by visitors.

Stay safe

The park was historically unsafe for tourists due to the presence of armed rebel groups, but no park visitors have been kidnapped since 2005. The park is patrolled by the military and tour guides stick to established trails.

The greater risk is out-of-shape tourists attempting an arduous backpacking trek in the jungle after years of a sedentary lifestyle.

Go next

• Tayrona National Park
• La Guajira
• Cartagena