Hiking in Chingaza

One of the goals during my mini-retirement in Colombia has been to rediscover as most natural parks as possible, get-up from this machine and do some exercise, take lost of pictures and enjoy nature. In June, some friends took me for a day hike to Chingaza National Park. That was love at first sight. It is amazing how such a beautiful place could be so close to Bogota, and the best part is that there was no one there. Either most of the people is lazy enough to ignore this place or they simply do not know how to get there. The less I want is to see crowds of noisy basterds spoiling this place (as happened to Neusa), but if you love and respect nature keep reading..

The páramo of Chingaza, located on the Eastern branch of the Andes, only an hour away by land from Bogotá, between the Departments of Cundinamarca and Meta, is a veritable water factory. Chingaza park has an extension of 53.000 hectares, the high plateau climate predominates. The Altitude ranges between 800 and 4020 meters above the sea level, and temperatures between 4 and 21 centigrade.

This park is huge and the hiking paths I have explored so far will take you to the stunning Siecha Lagunas:

These small lakes (lagunas) were considered sacred by pre-Hispanic indigenous tribes (Muiscas), who celebrated offerings in there gelid waters. In 1856 a smaller version of the famous golden Muisca Raft was discovered in their waters. One of the big museums in the world fought for a long time to include it as the most memorable object of the American continent; but when the Siecha raft travelled, legally at the time, to Germany, it was lost for the world in a big fire when the ship carrying it caught fire in the port of Bremen.

Flora associated to this type of land are big “frailejones”, “siete cueros” and much more, an endangered specie of plant located in this park is the “polilepis”; plant with many colors.

At the same time the following kinds of animals are seen; “anteojos” bear, puma, white deers, different sort of birds and a big variety of amphibious. In this place is very easy to spot Condors and Paramo Eagles.

How to Get There

The Chingaza park is open to the tourist, They are different access points, most of them in the calera way. It is possible to take walks using a variety of routes, all of them with a beautiful view of the nature, some of them still undiscovered.

Take a look at the following GPS track to know how to the Siecha Lagunas from Bogota (by Car):

Driving from Bogota to Siecha at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: GPS Community

Once you leave the car (do not worry, fortunately there is no theft at this altitude…yet), start to walk following this:

Siecha Hike (Chingaza) at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: Travel Community

Recommendations

It is recommended to use suitable clothes for this climate. Paramo weather is totally unpredictable and changes quickly (it is windy, foggy and rainy most of the times). Bring good hiking boots, a good rain-jacket (just in case) and a wind shell.
Stick to the trails
Do not litter