Travel Guide Parque Nacional Chingaza

The Chingaza National Natural Park is an incredible place, one hour northwest of Bogotá. On the ancestral lands of the Muiscas and Guayupes, this sanctuary for the fauna and flora of the Andean region, offers to the hikers magnificent excursions. The park of 76,600 hectares is located between eleven municipalities in the departments of Cundinamarca (Fómeque, Choachí, La Calera, Guasca, Junín, Gachalá and Medina) and Meta (San Juanito, El Calvario, Restrepo and Cumaral). In the eastern part of the park, the llanero foothills dominate, with many rivers that feed the Orinoco. In the western part, the Andean forest and páramo ecosystems predominate, a neotropical biotope of the Andes with a very fragile endemic biodiversity. The park is the territory of the spectacled bear, the páramo tapir, the puma, the jaguar and the Andean condor. It takes 4 hours of walking to see the lagoons, geysers, sharp peaks, and the high plains called páramo. Bring warm clothes, because we are often at more than 3,000 m of altitude and the temperatures can go down to 4°C (even be negative between January and March). You should also bring waterproof clothing, because it rains a lot, and the park is the largest water reserve in the metropolitan area.