SFF Iguaque

In the north of Boyacá Department, near to the tourist town of Villa de Leyva is the Flora and Fauna Sanctuary of Iguaque (SFF Iguaque in Spanish) a protected area of forest and paramo in the eastern cordillera of the Andes mountains. Having been to the area last year, we decided to stay in the wooden cabins in the reserve.

After parking lower down and a steep 15 minute walk, there are several large and well-maintained cabins with 6 or 8 bunk beds and bathrooms. It's not often fully occupied and you might get a cabin to yourself, but it's not guaranteed. The food is very good, but at around 2900m up, it does get very cold at night and, as they did not light the fire in the restaurant cabin, the only option was to get warm under the many blankets in the bunkrooms. The accommodation costs around 38,000 pesos per night per person (around 13 GBP). They also charge for parking and entry to the park - extra if you are a foreigner!

The forest is large and there are plenty of birds. We were very lucky to find a nest of Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia (Chlorophonia pyrrhophys), given away by the noise of the chicks begging for food. These are beautiful but not common birds and this area is not in their range according to  Cornell Neotropical Birds. However, many birds are under-recorded in Colombia and are more widespread than books or other sources will suggest. I managed a few shots of the male at the nest, but sadly the poor light and my shoddy camera work did not do their fantastic colours justice. Google an image and you'll see what I mean.

I was also very pleased to see a new hummingbird for me, the Amethyst-throated Sunangel (Heliangelus amethysticollis). This little gem was very close, but we didn't have the camera. When the light catches its gorget, the throat-patch, you can really appreciate the amethyst colour. There were lots of other highland hummingbirds around , but you need patience to get to see them well.

Andean Guan (Penelope montagnii) are common and easy to see here, but these were new to me. Other new birds included Blue-and-black Tanager (Tangara vassorii), Black-banded Woodcreeper (Dendrocolaptes picumnus) and Black-crested Warbler (Basileuterus nigrocristatus). Photographing them in the forest is a challenge though! At night I could hear several distant White-throated Screech Owls (Megascops albogularis), but little chance to see them.

Most people stay only one night at SFF Iguaque in order to make an early start for a hike up to the Laguna de Iguaque, and small mountain lake in the paramo at around 3700m - around 12,000 feet. The hike is only around 4 km, but fairly rough and steep.

Climbing up at this altitude you can feel the thinner air and your heart pounds readily. I guess those that live at higher altitudes like in Bogotá or around Boyacá are better adapted than us! It is best to take plenty of warm clothes and sun-block too.

The lake is very picturesque. There are 6 or 7 other lakes in the area which can, apparently be hiked in a single day, but you'd need to be in good shape to do that. I didn't see much of the birdlife higher up - only Black-chested Buzzard-eagles (Geranoaetus melanoleucus) and a few others I'd seen before. The local name is Paramo Eagle which is apposite. The views from here were spectacular in between the clouds. The only slight problem was that Elena slipped and rolled on the rocks on the way down, but luckily with no serious injury and we got down OK.

As the first night was very clear and dark, I got an amazing view of the stars from the cabins. It reminded me how impoverished is the night sky in Britain.

Cañon de las Iguanas

This Sunday we went with one of the 16 walking groups in Bucaramanga through the Cañon de las Iguanas (Canyon of the Iguanas!). The walk starts on the road from Girón to Zapatoca just before it drops down into the Canyon of the Sogamoso river. You can see the GPS track here Wikiloc track of Canyon de las Iguanas

Apart from a few small farms near there top, the canyon is empty of people, and it´s pretty hot so we needed lots of water for this 11.5 km walk. The route drops about 500m and in places the path is very narrow with sheer drops which I hate. Other parts have steep descents (or ascents if you want to suffer more by going the other way). Once along the small river, much of the walk is over large boulders so all-in-all pretty hard work!

The vegetation is mostly desert-type plants with many spines and stings to catch the unwary on the overgrown path. There are several types of cactus, a type of nettle Cnidoscolus urens I think (nettles are called pringamosa or ortiga in Colombia) and many bushes with thorns including uña de gato (cat´s claw) with wicked hooks. The small trees do however provide plenty of shade, just beware of touching anything!

Usually, there isn´t a massive flow of water through this canyon as the area is fairly arid but there are many pools, some are big and deep enough to swim and dive in. The clean swimming holes are an excellent way to cool off from the heat of the canyon. The water is just the right temperature and warm winds can dry you off quickly when you get out. Elena even fell in fully clothed, but not too much harm done apart from a grazed knee and a wet camera, which I think we managed to save. Swimming holes are very popular here and people dive in from impressive heights - rather them than me!

I didn´t see any Iguanas on this walk, just one large lizard. Snakes are common here though we didn't see any this time perhaps because we were in a large group. I didn´t see many interesting birds on this walk though no doubt there are a few there. One species in particular is worth looking for here, the endemic Chestnut-bellied Hummingbird (Amazilia castaneiventris) which is classified as endangered and only occurs in a few places in this part of Colombia. With almost no flowering plants or trees in sight, I didn't have much hope of seeing one. I´ve now been to 4 of their known locations and not seen one yet!

The walk ends as the small river from the canyon joins a larger river which itself then into the big, fast-flowing Sogamoso. The last part of the walk is about a mile or so on a dirt road back to the main road not far from the bridge. This area will soon be flooded by the Hidrosogamoso dam project (about 10 miles downstream on the Sogamoso) in the next year, so perhaps this walk will be lost or at least the final part of the route changed. The construction of a very high new bridge to carry the road to Zapatoca is well underway so things are changing. It will soon be very different. At least the canyon of the iguanas itself will remain. I was a great walk, though tough, and one which I could never have had in Britain.

Sólo los dioses

This Sunday we went for another walk, this time with a group of about 20 others, organized via Facebook, or “Face” as they call it here. We took a bus on the main road from Bucaramanga towards Bogotá and stopped about half-way between Piedacuesta and Aratoca just north of the Chicamocha National Park in Santander. Leaving the main road there we walked along a gravel road up and over a ridge and down into the valley of the Rio Umpalá. Umpalá means place of the gods (sólo van los dioses) in the local Guane language. 

As we left at around 9.30, this first section of the walk was hot, and on a dirt road through a dry scrub landscape fairly typical in the area of Chicamocha canyon. We climbed up and over a ridge. Although the views were good, there was not so much wildlife to see except, sadly, a dead armadillo; I've yet to see one alive. There were also good views of white-collared swifts zooming around close to the ground. These are large, fast birds with great aerobatic skills as they catch insects on the wing and often forming impressive flocks.

Near the top was this slightly strange looking cactus, at least from this angle! Some of these cactus have small red fruits which I thought I'd taste. The fruit had no large spines, but does, I discovered afterwards have lots of very small spines which are painful once they get into your hands. It tasted sweet & tasty, but I won't do that again! Later, one of the walkers gave us a fruit of another type of larger cactus, which had no spines. Although some people were eating the skin, we peeled it, and the grey, seed-filled pulp had a pleasant taste and texture something like a watermelon.

The Umpalá valley was an oasis of green and the small fast-flowing river was turbulent and cool, having come from the mountains above about 3000m. On our way into the valley we could see a large waterfall on the other side which would be well worth a visit although it looks very difficult to get there.

At the river, the swim was very refreshing, the air cooler by the river and we ate our lunch sitting on a rock cooling our feet. Whilst we were eating someone noticed a Basilisk Lizard on a rock. They managed to coax it into the water where it lived up to its name of Jesus lizard by running across the river. This was an impressive feat given the fast flow. It's great to be watching wildlife I only ever saw on television in the UK.

There are many small farms in the valley growing a variety of crops, including tobacco, plantains and cocoa as well as keeping plenty of goats. However, the village of Umpalá is very small, with just a tiny church and a few colonial style houses several of which were abandoned. It wasn't deserted however and the local shop served very welcome cold beer. They put on some music and some of the walkers started dancing, as Colombians are apt to do at any time.

The rest of the walk was along the river through small fields with a narrow, and sometimes muddy track crossed by many irrigation ditches and pipes. There were many more birds to see, though we ran out of time, and my only new bird I could identify was a Pearl Kite (Gampsonyx swainsonii), a tiny white-breasted falcon-like raptor. There was also another Highland Motmot, but I had no time to get a photo.

Around 4pm we arrived back at the main road from Bogotá to Bucaramanga at a place called Mensuli where there is a restaurant, campestre and a swimming hole. To get to the bus, we had to cross the river twice, first by a rickety wire & wooden suspension bridge, and then by a log with bamboo hand-holds. A local woman crossed confidently carrying large bags, so we thought we couldn't show any fear.

It was a good day's walk, and I'd recommend the Umpalá valley if you enjoy seclusion. As the first part of the walk was a little hot & less interesting, it might have been better just to go out and back from Mensuli. Walking in a group has many advantages; the security, the chance to get to know different people and not least, the chance to discover new routes which are hard to find in Colombia with few marked paths. With Facebook & the internet gaining all the time here, I get the feeling more walking clubs are getting “organised” that way, if ever that were possible in Colombia ;-)

Los Santos to Jordán

On Sunday morning we got up early, but not early enough, as it turned out, to walk one of the Lengerke paths. It takes about an hour & a half to drive from Bucaramanga to Los Santos on the Mesa de los Santos and though the road is good, it has many curves. The mesa is a lush green plateau at about 1500m which gives it a fresh and pleasant feel. It's a favourite place for weekend trips from Bucaramanga and there are many holiday homes and cabins. Los Santos is a small town perched on the edge of the mesa overlooking the Chicamocha river way below.

We parked in the town square, which was very noisy & busy. Several shops were playing really loud music onto the street. A short walk through the town took us to the start of the Camino Real track which we'd planned to walk. Light clouds were covering parts of the town when we started out, but they quickly cleared allowing us to see our destination of the tiny town of Jordán Sube only 5km away but 850m below.

We started walking about 9.30 on what turned out to be a hot and, for much of it, still day. We had the worst of the heat and the sun especially on the way back. We passed a few walkers, and an old man with a mule carrying tobacco coming up who probably thought we were crazy to walk in the middle of the day and I was thinking at the time it might not be sensible, but didn't want to miss the walk. The first section was a little messy with lots of litter, and some mess from the mules that do use the track. It snakes down the steep canyon side all the way, with plenty of hairpins. There are no flat sections and some stretches are fairly steep, but not too bad. Most of the track is paved with small flat rocks & in good condition so the footing is good. At this time everything was very dry with no flowing water except for a small stone channel about half way down which was great to get water to cool off. There is some shade in places all along the route, but mostly it is fairly open scrub with lots of cactus. On the way we passed a couple of small fields of tobacco, a few cows and several mamoncillo trees which are a speciality of Jordán. After peeling the skin from the small green fruit you suck off the juicy flesh from the large stone.

 

We took our time, which allowed me to do some birding and we reached Jordán just before mid-day. The sun was fierce, we were drenched with sweat and the heat sapped our strength. It was probably well over 30C in Jordán with no breeze. You enter the town by crossing a small suspension bridge (with a few holes) over the sediment packed Chicamocha river below. Sadly, the flow is pretty strong and a swim in the river might well be your last. Supposedly the bridge was built by some Irish engineers in 1870, but I've no idea what they were doing there in those days.

 

Jordán has the honour of being the smallest municipality in Santander and the town was almost deserted. Perhaps a baking-hot Sunday lunchtime is not the best time to visit but it is, no doubt, one of the quietest towns around because of its isolated location in the canyon. Many of the houses are abandoned, almost with the feel of a ghost-town and I heard it now has only around 70 inhabitants. However, the main square is picturesque and not unpleasant. The posada de caminantes (walker's hostel) was locked and there was no sign of life. So was the small church but the police station was open and manned. The local authorities are trying to revive the town and hoping for some developments from the Chicamocha National Park to bring in more tourists, but let's hope they can preserve the peaceful atmosphere.

Fortunately, we managed to find a couple of basic shops to stock up on water & drinks for the climb back up, as well as buy a few snacks for lunch. There wasn't much choice, but it was good enough. We used about 3 litres of water each, and the walk took us about 7 hours in total but we stopped frequently because of the heat. You do need to be reasonably fit, bring plenty of water, sun-cream, a hat and insect repellent for this walk. No need for a map though as there is only one trail! You can find the profile on the wikiloc link in my last post.

As well as the great views, there was plenty of wildlife to see; colourful butterflies galore, lots of lizards both large and small and many species of birds. Quite a number of these were new to me, but I'm struggling to identify them on first sight even when I've taken good field notes. There are just so many similar species you need to know the subtle differences to look for. Still, I'm learning more every day. Fairly easy to see and to identify was a magnificent Highland Motmot (Momotus aequatorialis), a megatick for me, looking something like a giant kingfisher with a fantastic tail. Sadly I didn't get a picture of it (google it!)..... maybe next time.

Overall a very enjoyable and interesting day despite the heat.