Parque Nacional Natural Chingaza — Attraction in Fómeque

Last February 12, life smiled at me yet again, as I was lucky to be invited to a beautiful hike through a natural reserve near to Bogotá: The Chingaza National Natural Park. Full day activity that included a 4-hour walk inside the protected area.

Our excursion started at 7am when our tour company pick me up at home. Our guide, Hugo and his friendly driver, William, arrive very punctual. Later my friend Tito also joined us as well as the lovely Emilse as the assigned Corpo-Chingaza interpreter-guide, to teach us about the park. She told us that the path that we will follow is via the route of Santa Maria de las Lagunas, better known as the route Lagunas de Siecha, where we can appreciate the flora of the Páramo, including the splendid frailejones.

Due to the terrible traffic in Bogota, it took us two and a half hours just to get to La Calera, when normally this would take no more than 40 minutes. Hugo told us that there is an alternate route, via Hacienda Marques, through the Codito area, where La Calera is reached much faster, but for security reasons in that area, this route is largely ignored.

The Chingaza National Natural Park, it is considered a native treasure, by contemplating its mountains you can feel even the charm and secrets of our ancestral cultures: the Muiscas and the Guayupes, indigenous people who lived in this territory.

The páramo is known as the force of water! and includes among others the Chuza Reservoir, which provides the water we drink in Bogota, which by the way is one of the purest waters in the world !!!, the park is also home to endangered species and vital ecosystems.

Currently, this area is a protected national park, which serves as a refuge for majestic ecosystems of Andean fauna and flora.

After 10am, we passed through Guasca and near the El Ensenillo forest reserve, until we found the deviation towards the entrance to the park, where we continued on the uncovered road. Around 10:50 am we reached the point where parked the car.

At 3000 meters above sea level, at 11am, we arrived at the park entrance, where we had to register our arrival (and later our departure) time. We were given a small introduction to the park and its regulation.

Chingaza Park is part of the 60 protected areas that make up the natural national parks system of Colombia, seen from the air, the park has the shape of a butterfly.

It has more than 76,000 hectares and is located in the eastern mountain range, northeast of Bogotá. The park has two wings, the western wing that is dedicated to ecotourism where visitors have the option of hiking seven different trails, ours today as I mentioned earlier, is the Lagunas de Siecha trail, gateway to Guasca.

And the eastern wing towards Piedemonte, which is strictly for research and investigation.

11 municipalities form part of the park, 7 of Cundinamarca: Fómeque, Choachí, La Calera, Guasca, Junín, Gachalá and Medina, and 4 municipalities of the Meta: San Juanito, El Calvario, Restrepo and Cumaral. The park has four access points: Guasca, La Calera which is the main entrance, Fómeque and San Juanito.

Emilse told us that the park has a population of approximately 70 Andean bears, also known as the spectacle bear. Other fauna includes white-tailed deer and soche, curies, cusumbos, rabbits, condors and other birds. That’s when I start to get excited about the possibility of being able to see these animals. The bears are herbivores with some scavenging bears exceptions (20% of them), therefore, and according to Emilse, they present no risk to humans. The male can reach 2.20 meters and the female 1.65 meters.

So, we started our hike up the slope of the mountain with the aim of reaching the viewpoint, which is 3700 meters high.

Just before reaching the viewpoint we found a depiction of “ Tejido Muisca “a representation of the solstices, the Muiscas, as well as many other cultures of South America, were exceptional astronomers. They divided the calendar into...

Hace parte de la red de Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia y es uno de los más cercanos a Bogotá. Tiene varios puntos de acceso, y yo entré por el punto cercano a La Calera. Se puede ir en carro o en bus contratado, e incluso algunas personas van en bicicleta. Desde La Calera toma un poco más de una hora llegar a la entrada donde se realiza el registro y se recibe la inducción. Lo adecuado es contactar con el parque y hacer la reserva para los visitantes con más de 15 días de anticipación, solicitar el acompañamiento de los guías y el seguro médico.

Ahora sobre el parque como tal: Hay varios recorridos para hacer según la distancia y puntos que quieran ver, el paisaje es hermoso, con ecosistema de páramo y subpáramo, caracterizado por los Frailejones. Si tienen suerte pueden ver alguno de los animales de la región como venados, águilas, u osos. Puede hacer bastante frío y viento, así como puede haber lluvias en un ambiente bastante húmedo, entonces es recomendable llevar un buen impermeable, ropa cómoda para caminar y elementos para abrigarse en caso de frío, como guantes o gorro, y también es muy importante llevar unas buenas botas, que sean de caucho o que sean de senderismo pero impermeables.

La entrada cuesta alrededor de $19.000 aunque los precios varían según la edad de los visitantes. Muy importante recoger todo y no dejar residuos orgánicos o inorgánicos en el Parque. Hay opción de acampar también e incluso hay un recorrido para hacer en carro y un restaurante.

Muy recomendado para los amantes de la naturaleza, el senderismo...

It's a very big and beautiful park near Bogota. If you're a tourist and you love hiking and awesome landscapes this place is a must-see. Remember to visit their website as you must make a reservation to go hiking.

Only down-side: the road. It's a 1 hours trip from the paved road through a dirt road that can damage your car if it isn't very resistant. Plus, there is not clear signposting and you must check often with persons you encounter on the road to see if you're going through the...