Colombia Part 24 - One day at Puntas Gallinas, the most northern Part of Southamerica! (Photos + Videos)
As I told you already in my last post we had been travelling way deeper into the Guajira desert, crossing it with a Jeep until we got to Punta Gallinas.
Here we would spend the next morning discovering the lagunes and islands in the sourroundings and the afternoon driving way further into the desert to enjoy the impressive landscapes and finish our day at the most northern point of southamerica, at the lighthouse.
Punta Gallinas is the northernmost tip of the continental plate of South America, located at the northern end of the peninsula of La Guajira, in the homonymous department of the Republic of Colombia, on the southern waters of the Caribbean Sea.
It is an end of land that goes northwest to the sea and closes a set of accidents that make up a peninsula bay that goes from Punta Gallinas to Cabo de la Vela or Jepirra (in Wayúu). Between the two points are Puerto Bolivar, Portete Bay and Honda Bay.
It is an impressive natural scenery of plateaus, dunes and rocky cliffs, which emerge from the sea, hugging the Hondita Bay.
Near Punta Gallinas is a community of about 100 inhabitants of the Wayúu ethnic group, one of the few South American cultures that preserve their ancestral traditions intact.
Some of them actually built the hostel, where we were sleeping in our hammocks.
Their spanish was perfect and they also offered us to show us around. So after a nice breakfast we jumped into the boat and went to see some flamingos :)
From there we went on to the shell Island. It is called like this because it is covered by shells. They are everywhere!!
So we got out of the boat and went for a walk to enjoy the landscape around us.
We had to cross the lagunes first to get to the rocky part of the island and climb to the top.
The way up was pretty rocky and we saw a lot of cactus :) - It was hard to believe that we were still in the desert with all this water around us.
From the top we enjoyed a beautiful view over the whole area! Impressive how the water here changes colours in every sector, depending on how deep it is.
Even here we could find shells!! This place was so incredible calm and virgin! - Just beautiful.
After that we just went back to our boat, jumped into the water, got back to the hostel and got ready for the afternoon.
Getting back in the Jeep after a nice lunch, we started to drive through the desert again to enjoy the beauty of its landscape.
Our first stop was the "mirador" - which is a viewpoint over a beautiful lagune.
After that we went to the "most famous" part in this area: the sand dune! It is an immense dune that reaches 60 meters high and that rises like a wall right on the shore of the sea.
I have to admit, that it was pretty taff to climb it! - But it was also amazing to see how the sea appeared on the other side and so much fun to run down, right into the ocean.
Of course we also went into the water and enjoyed the caribbean sea like little children. We were the only people at this amazing place!!! And we had a lot of fun.
Two hours later the sun was about to go down, so we decided to drive to the lighthouse and watch the sunset from the literally most northern point of southamerica!
So we climbed back the dunes and got into the Jeep, putting music on ;)
At the tip of Guajira is a lighthouse located on the northest point of all of South America. It is 18 meters high and opened its operations in 1989.
Of course it is directly placed next to the ocean. Many people did little stone sculptures here. It was really wonderful!!
It was the perfect ending for a perfect day!
As always I hope you enjoyed reading my post and I am grateful for every Upvote, Resteem and Comment, as you are supporting my travels with it!!
Cheers,
Liz
Colombia Part 1: Bogota D.C. - A city full of history and culture!
Colombia Part 2: Guatavita Lagoon, The Muisca Civilisation and The Legend of "El Dorado"
Colombia Part 3 - The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá (Fotos + Video)
Colombia Part 5 - Flying to Macarena National Park being a Copilot
Colombia Part 6 - The Rainbow River at Macarena National Park
Colombia Part 7 - Riding Motor Bike and Chilling in the Pools of the Tatacoa Desert
Colombia Part 8 - Enjoying civilization in Cali!
Colombia Part 9 - Living with the president of the orchids club,helping her out at the green house
Colombia Part 11 - Visiting the typical colonial city of Salento
Colombia Part 12 - Learning how to make coffee at a real coffee farm in Salento
Colombia Part 13 - Horseback riding to a waterfall and hiking at Cocora Valley
Colombia Part 14 - Swimming at the hot springs of Santa Rosa de Cabal
Colombia Part 15 - Doing an adventurous Graffiti Tour through the Favelas of Medellin at Commune 13
Colombia Part 16 - Ziplining, hiking, blow jumping and jet skiing at the lagunas of Guatapé
Colombia Part 17 - Paragliding over the city of Medellin
Colombia Part 18 - Arriving in the capital of the caribbean side: Cartagena de Indias
Colombia Part 19 - Trekking in the Tayrona National Park, Day One: The Jungle
Colombia Part 21 - Our Way back by boat visiting 3 beaches of Tayrona National Park in just one day!
Colombia Part 22 - Our first day discovering the Guajira Desert!
Colombia Part 23 - A one day trip Crossing the Guajira desert in Jeep
@lizanomadsoul as always your story, photographs and videos were amazing. They were privileged, since they were in a magical place where very few people have gone. I greatly appreciate that you have shown this beautiful part of South America. Your work is wonderful, I will be aware of your next publication. Best regards.
Thanks @bpfalimentos! I will try my best to keep up your expectations ;) Thanks for stopping by and writing me these kind words. I appreciate it.
Great post with nice videos & fotos! The Columbia series are long, this is already part 24 now, wow respect liz! =)
yes. Its almost the last part. Soon I will be telling you about my adventures of Peru& Bolivia :)
Cool I am looking forward to read & see more from South America! :)
beautiful landscape of friends, want to feel like I visit and enjoy nature there.
:) It is a very special place to visit.
hopefully i can visit it
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nice your photography..
Never seen that many flamingos (in actual photos) in one place before. 😊 And the sand dune that can reach up to 60 meters was truly remarkable. And then just beyond that, you can already take a swim in the sea. No wonder you said it was a perfect day for you. I can see why.
Hey filnette! Yes the sand dune was the highlight of our day!! I felt like a kid again running down into the crystal clear water :) The flamingos were a bit shy but still cool to see. I didnt expect some there!
Wonderful photograpy. Gread Post Dear
Thanks For sharing
Thanks :)
This post has been upvoted and picked by Daily Picked #9! Thank you for the cool and quality content. Keep going!
Don’t forget I’m not a robot. I explore, read, upvote and share manually :)
oh wow cool! I feel honored. Thanks :)
Sure! Your post made me warm and sunny. Keep travelin and write again. I'm waiting for it! :)