Colombia Part 7 - Riding Motor Bike and Chilling in the Pools of the Tatacoa Desert (Fotos & Videos)

in #travel7 years ago (edited)

0.JPG

The Tatacoa Desert is the second dryest zone in Colombia after the Guajira desert. It counts with 330 square kilometers and is devided in the grey and red desert. The grey part is located in the area of Los Hoyos and the red part in Cuzco.

Scientists assume, that the Tatacoa desert was once a garden with thousands of flowers and trees, which dryed out within the time and changed into a desert.

Most of the tourists go there not only to enjoy the amazing landscape, but also to find fossils from other times or observe the sky at night with it´s amazing view of the stars.

The desert is part of the state Huila and the easiest way to get there is coming from Neiva, which is 38km away.

After our stay at the Macarena National park, we decided to fly back to Villavicencio and take the bus to Tatacoa desert. It wasn´t really close, so we where on our way all day long.

IMG_9539.JPG

From Macarena we flew to Villavicencio (this time on a normal plane), took the bus to Bogotá (ca. 3hrs), went with a Minivan from Bogotá to Neiva (6hrs) and took a Taxi from there to a Ranch in the middle of the desert.

24208935_10214967397124264_932942682_o.png

We arrived in the middle of the night and went straight to sleep in a cozy room. The heat woke us up the next day (till 45 degrees) and we had some breakfast getting the first real impression of the desert, which looked like a set of a western movie.

2.2.JPG

2.3.JPG

Most of the places to stay are Ranches, converted into Hostels with really basic rooms and no internet or electricity. A little restaurant and a kiosk is included and almost everywhere you can choose to sleep in a room, tent or hammock.

2.4.JPG

2.6.JPG

2.7.JPG

7.3.JPG

You find goats and Cactus all over the desert and most of the people move around with motor bikes.

The first day we rented one of this bikes to explore the desert ourselves and search some of the pools at the grey part of the desert (Los Hoyos). Maxi had a bit of circulation problems because of the heat, so I had to drive :D

That was officialy my first time driving this kind of a bike manually and I loved it!! Soo much fun!

3.JPG

3.1.JPG

3.4.JPG

Getting to the first pool Maxi got a lot better freshing up in the cold water! The entrance is really cheap (around 4 USD/pool) and you can stay as long as you want.

4.3.JPG

4.4.JPG

4.5.JPG

4.JPG

As Maxi had gotten his strenght back, we went a bit further to the bigger pool, where we would watch the sunset with an awesome view towards the grey part of the Tatacoa desert!

5.9.JPG

5.11.JPG

5.1.JPG

5.22.JPG

5.111.JPG

The landscape is amazing! - It was a very special place to watch the sun coming down.

5.7.JPG

After that, we went home with the bike and got straight to the observatory.

1.2.JPG

2.JPG

Here you have the posibility to stay the whole night lying in your hammock and watching the stars. One of the locals offered us to stay with us and show us all the stellar constellations.

The Tatacoa desert is a geographically privileged place due to its location at 3º13 'of North Latitude and 75º10' of West Longitude, next to the Ecuador Terrestre. From there, you can observe the 88 constellations, take tours of the various objects and enjoy phenomenas like meteor showers.

In addition to the geographic and atmospheric conditions, perfect for observing the celestial bodies, the Tatacoa does not have light or auditory pollution.

We spent the night there enjoying the silence, the landscape and the tranquility of the place before we fell asleep.

stars.jpg

The next day we woke up very early to get to do the trek through the red desert (Cuzco).

1.5.JPG

Maxi didn´t feel strong enough, so he just joined for the first part.

4.6.JPG

It takes about 1,5 hours to do the whole path following little wooden sticks, that mark the way. I did the trek very spontaniously so I behaved very stupid, walking without any sunscreen on, no water and no clue how long it would take :D

Anyways I made it without meeting one person haha. - The landscape is just surreal there!! I felt like walking on another planet.

7.4.JPG

7.6.JPG

7.7.JPG

The cactuses are super big and it´s easy to get lost if you don´t follow the path.

7.8.JPG

7.9.1.JPG

7.9.2.JPG

My favorit spot of the red desert was the view point on the end of the trip! The way up is already special.

7.9.3.JPG

...But from the top the view is just spectacular!

7.9.4.JPG

7.9.JPG

8.1.JPG

8.2.JPG

For me it was the 4th desert I´ve seen in my life after the Sahara in Tunesia, Durango in Mexico and San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. I have to say, that this one was really special and beautiful and I can just recommend all of you to go there once in your life!

7.1.JPG

7.JPG

As always I hope you liked my post and I am very grateful for every Upvote, Resteem and Comment, because you are supporting my trips 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

Colombia Part 4 - Adventure time at the Natural Pools of Guejar River in the Jungle (Photos + Videos)

Colombia Part 5 - Flying to Macarena National Park being a Copilot ✈ (Fotos + Videos)

Colombia Part 6 - The Rainbow River at Macarena National Park (Fotos & Videos)

Sort:  

Great job! Thanks for that!

Gerne :)

:-)

That pool looks perfect for a bit of relief from the desert heat.

I also love the stars - it must have been magical to have been hanging out beneath such a celestial show!

It was really magical! And yes! A great relief to jump into the pool with 45 degrees outside :D

Amazing photos and videos, and what a well put together blog - you spend a lot of time on them eh!

Thanks for sharing, the desert looks awesome! :)

Yes I did :) Thanks for stopping by. I saw you went to steemfest! How was it?

:)

Honestly, i didn't get the most out of it. I was ill for the final day and didn't make any millionaire friends! :D

Lisbon is well worth a visit though!

hmm who did you meet?! What where the presentations about? I would have loved to go ... yes, Lisbon is awesome! :) Will you go again next year?

Great post @lizanomadsoul that was a very Big adventure, nice vídeos, no doubt its a great place for discover, of our amazing earth planet, thanks for sharing, have a nice week, i invite you to take a look at my recent post, cheers! :)

Hey there @hectorjoachim!! Nice to see you! I will :) Have a nice week.

Amazing photos. You really managed to capture the beauty off the desert.. plus cacti are my favorite 😁

Cool! Well, there you have a lot of them ;) - Thanks for your kind words.

I've been here! What an amazing place. Definitely one of my Colombia highlights. I didn't stay at that place with a pool though. Did you go to the observatory for stargazing? It was amazing.

Yes I went! We slept there ;) It is also one of my highlights! I loved it there! :)

Heya, I'm just swinging by to let you know you're being featured in our Daily Travel Digest!

This looks like it was one hell of an amazing adventure, a friend of mine was in Colombia not too long ago! How do you like it in general?

Thanks!! I love it in Colombia!!! People are so nice and the nature is just awesome! Not much internet though :S I try to keep you posted.

Puuh. Fast verpasst :-)
Resteemed :-)

Danke dir!!! :) - Ich bin bald wieder im Lande also sag Bescheid, solltest du nach München kommen.

Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=lizanomadsoul
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=colombia-part-7-riding-motor-bike-and-chilling-in-the-pools-of-the-tatacoa-desert-fotos-and-videos


Want to have your post on the map too?
Add the following inside your post:
!steemitworldmap xxx lat yyy long description d3scr

(replace xxx and yyy with latitude and longitude)

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.20
TRX 0.14
JST 0.029
BTC 67403.09
ETH 3246.95
USDT 1.00
SBD 2.65