Day 1Salento and Cocora
Cocora Valley and wax palms
Meeting with your guide and quick stop at the small supermarket in Salento to purchase a few necessary items (toilet paper, snacks for the road...).
Departure from Salento in 4x4 towards the Cocora Valley. During the trek, you will head to the Nevado del Tolima the first day, go around it the second day and turn your back to it on the third.
The park is home to a variety of animal species including spectacled bear, Andean tapirs, opossums, cougars, squirrels, condors, hummingbirds and snow parrots, as many species you will have the opportunity to see . The hike goes on following the Quindio River to reach the Acaime reserve, a privileged place to watch hummingbirds. We then continue our journey to Estrella del Sur, where we stop for lunch. Late in the afternoon, arrival at the paramo where we discover an ecosystem of steppe and short vegetation that exist only in the Colombian and Venezuelan mountains. Installation in a rustic gite (no electricity) for the night and dinner with Doña, the owner.
Walking: 6h (15 km) - Height difference: 1500m - Altitude: 3900m
Day 2Parque de los Nevados
Parque los Nevados: Humedales del Eden
Breakfast and departure for a hike of 32 km (go and back) to reach the thermal of Canyon, thermal spring at 45 ° C high in sulfur, where you can swim if you do not mind the smell of sulfur and its ochre yellow colour. Following the Páramo de Romerales that describes a C around the Nevado Tolima, you will pass by the lagoon El Encanto, division between the Quindio Valley and the Tolima Valley and by the Valle del Placer, raising site of cattle and horses. After a swim in the thermal spring, we walk back to the refuge.
Dinner and overnight in the refuge.
Walking: 7h (32 km) - Height difference: 100m
Day 3Parque de los Nevados
Los Nevados
Today, we walk back to Salento. Hike down the trail El Bosque with a view of the five valleys that separate us from the Valley of Cocora. We leave the landscape of steppe to return to the Andean forest and watch the typical birds of the region: paramo eagles, the Pava Cuava Guan, the (very rare) blue toucan... , wax palms and dozens of different orchid species.
Arrival in the Cocora Valley and return to Salento in 4x4.
Walking: 6h (15 km) - Height difference: 1500m
