A special place in Colombia, located south of Bogota in the department of Huila. The spectacular Tatacoa Desert is the second largest dry zone in Colombia after the La Guajira Peninsula. The impressive landscapes that seem like you are on another planet will stay on you mind for a long time.

HOW TO GET TO THE TATACAO DESERT?

You can fly to Neiva, the city closest to the desert. From Bogota there are daily direct flights with Avianca and Easyfly, the flight takes less than an hour. By land it is 310 kilometers from Bogota to Neiva, which in reality is about a 5-hour drive.

It is an option to stay in Neiva and do day trips to Tatacoa and the surrounding area from there. The advantage of this is that in Neiva there are many more options for hotels that are often of better quality. The closest village to the desert is Villavieja, it is a small and underdeveloped village and the options for accommodation are limited and basic.

From Neiva it is 38km to Villavieja, because the roads in this area are not very good it is about an hour’s drive. Along the way you can already see how the landscape is becoming drier and more arid.

WHAT TOURS DO IN THE TATACOA DESERT COLOMBIA?

HIKING AND SWIMMING IN THE COLOMBIAN DESERT

In the desert you can walk two paths in the well-known sectors of this tropical dry forest:

• Cuzco, with its characteristic ocher color, is reminiscent of the landscapes of the adventures of the roadrunner and the coyote

• Los Hoyos, where the environment changes completely to shades of gray that provide unique panoramas.

Both parts can be visited in a tour of 2.5 hours. The tours can be done in a small tuk-tuk or by car with comfortable air conditioning. We recommend that you start the tour early in the morning to avoid the hot afternoon sun. We will stop along the way so you can take short walks and admire the formations formed by water and wind up close.

Afterwards you can take a refreshing dip in a mineral water swimming pool. A unique experience to see the contrast of a clear blue refreshing pool in the middle of the arid landscape.

VISIT TO THE ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY

Due to its geographic conditions, the sky of the Tatacoa Desert is usually very clear for most of the year, which, along with the absence of light pollution and its proximity to the equator, makes it an ideal spot for astronomical observation. When night falls, we take you to explore the ancient story that takes place in the starry sky. You will be able to get a closer look at various celestial objects from the telescopes of the observatory and take fantastic photos.

VISIT TO THE PALEONTOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF VILLAVIEJA

Millions of years ago, the Tatacoa Desert was a tropical rainforest until the Cordillera Oriental (the eastern branch of the Colombian Andes Mountains) arose and changed the course of the water, generating the current eroded landscape. For this reason, this is one of the most important paleontological exploration areas on the continent where these types of studies have been conducted for almost a century. The small but interesting Paleontological Museum of Villavieja shows what the desert looked like in prehistoric times, as well as a large collection of fossils of different species of mammals and reptiles.

WALK ALONG THE MAGDALENA RIVER

Enjoy a pleasant walk along the Magdalena River that runs past Villavieja. Board a small, motorized canoe, a local fisherman will navigate the river and tell you some of the secrets of his trade. This is also a good opportunity to observe the characteristic animals and plants of the riverbank, and to take a refreshing dip in one of the beaches.

BIRDWATCHING IN THE TATACOA DESERT

This tour starts early in the morning (5:00 AM), passes through different sectors of the Tatacoa Desert and the Bambuca Forest Reserve in search of various birds, some of which are endemic. The Tatacoa Desert is a special place for birdwatching due to the low human and animal occupation of the area and the geographical diversity between the Eastern Andes and the Magdalena River.

Up to 72 species have been recorded in the desert and river area adjacent to Villavieja in a 6-day expedition. A specialized guide from the Ornithological Society of Huila will accompany you on two short routes, 1.2 and 2 kilometers long, one in the Cuzco sector in the desert and another closer to the banks of the river, where you can observe species such as the road buzzard (Rupornis magnirostris), the red-crowned tanager (Tangara vitriolin) or the endemic plush-hooded organist (Euphonia concinna).

Got excited about a tour to the Tatacoa desert?

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