Greetings Everyone!
In November we will be returning to the Colombia for an amazing birding and wildlife tour in the Colombian Amazon. Our last trip was in December 2018 and we had so much fun that we are adding a second tour to Colombia in late November immediately before our Andes tour in early December. Colombia is a truly wonderful place to visit. Our tour starts out by spending a few days in Bogota and then a flight to Leticia to start our Amazon adventure.
We are only taking 4 people on this tour and you can sign up for both the Amazon and Andes tours back-to-back for a real Colombia adventure!
Geography:
Colombia is located in the northwest part of South America with land on both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Colombia is a large country about the size of Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico combined. "Colombia" was named after Christopher Columbus. Bogotá is the capital city with a population of 10.7 million in the metro area and Colombia has a total population of about 50 million. The highest point in Colombia is Pico Cristóbal Colón Mountain at 18,700 ft (5,700 meters). Conservation is important to Colombians and nearly 15% of the land is protected for habitat and wildlife preservation; this accounts for a total of 65,462 sq. miles or 41,895,680 acres within 60 national parks and reserves.
History:
People have been living in Colombia for about 12,000 years. Current day Panama was the route that many early hunter-gatherer tribes traveled through as they crossed from Central America down to South America and the land that is now Colombia would have been some of the first lands that people traveled across on this journey. Because Colombia borders both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean, the tribes that travel by boat might have first landed in Colombia as well. The Spanish arrived in 1509 and the first permanent settlement was created in Santa Marta in 1525. Early indigenous people had developed gold processing for jewelry and ornaments and the desire for gold fueled the conquest of both Central and South American societies by the Spanish. In 1717 when the original borders were drawn, Colombia included much of what is now Panama, Equator and Venezuela. Independence from Spain was a long battle and with the help of leaders such as Simón Bolívar, Colombia won its independence in 1819. Over the last two centuries since Independence there have been many battles and conflicts, but Colombia is currently experiencing a time of peace and economic growth. The Colombia people are extremely kind and welcoming to visitors and tourists.
Special offer:
Sign up for the Colombia tour and receive a complementary copy (one per room) of the “Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia” by Miles McMullan. Flights from the United States to Bogota are convenient and some are non-stop. There are a lot of great airfare deals available to the Bogotá El Dorado International Airport (BOG) right now, so it's time to book a flight or use those miles!
Bio Diversity:
Colombia is one of the most bio diverse countries in the world. Here are a few stats: 1,849 total bird species of which 83 are endemic, 166 hummingbird species, nearly 3,500 species of butterflies, 4,000 species of orchids of which 1,500 are endemic, 456 species of mammals, 589 species of amphibians, 130,000 species of plants, just to name of few...
