Llanos Orientales, the last natural paradise in a frontier region
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In Llanos Orientales, within the Rio Oronoco Basin, between Colombia and Venezuela, there is one of the most pristine natural paradises on Earth. Among the savannahs and swamps, in fact, one hundred species of mammals and even seven hundred birds live. To penetrate and get acquainted with this ark of beauty, you have to rely on llaneros, adventurous and reckless Colombian cowboys. They traversed daily torrents of green, red, and blue water starting at Caño Cristales. They run along the endless wilds and always stay on their horses.
in the Colombian pampas
In this kind of Colombian pampa, the gaucha culture is very flexible, but the patrons of the Llaneros Orientales willingly share their world of opposites. They teach how to tame the nature inside the finca where a local music show is organized every evening where they all play the harp, maracas and cuatro guitar with which they accompany the traditional dances of gorobo and vallenato. It takes only a few days, therefore, to start wearing white shorts and a shirt of the same color or red, to learn how to wade rivers, wearing a black sombrero. Villavicencio in the Meta region is certainly the gateway to Llanos where a ball of ecological trails including Ruta de Cristo Rey, Ruta Vereda el Carmen and Ruta La Pradera allow you to enter this created wonder. Through guided excursions, you will discover Parque Las Malocas and Parque Agroecológico Merecure where the purity of Llanos is revealed in all its truth.
On foot or on horseback along the banks of the Rio Caño Cristales
Even the kitchen here is essential to blend in with the landscape and its indomitable heroes. In Llanos Orientales, among the various traditional recipes, there is sudado de pollo criollo, made with chicken, potatoes and vegetables served on a banana leaf. Even the mamona is very fond of: the meat is cooked on the grill on skewers on sticks, after dipping it in beer and abundantly sprinkling it with salt. The cachama is a typical Rio Orinoco fish that is fried and cooked, served with a roll filled with vegetables, while the cachaça is a must-try gastronomic experience consisting of arepa, or round bread made from corn that is sweet and rich in cheese. We arrived by flight from Italy in the Colombian capital, Bogota, and from there we proceed to the cellar of Villavicencio with another transit of about an hour for the local company Avianca: Llanos is full of suggestive places. One of them is definitely the Macarena which teems with crystalline rivers, where the water appears unpolluted thanks to the Earth’s mineral composition, and has taken on amazing colors from red to green, and even blue. In this area watered by the Rio Caño Cristales, nicknamed the Rainbow River, you can cross streams and visit lands of great charm such as the Caño Piedras on foot or on horseback. Now in its third generation, family-run Hotel San Nicolas organizes many excursions in harmony with nature. Yopal, in turn, is the starting point for discovering the Casanare region, characterized by the rhythm and customs of the peasants, where in the villages you can listen to traditional music and taste the typical food of the Llanos Orientales. In particular, San Luis de Palenque, Altamira, Paz de Ariporo, and Matapalma attract travelers for the possibility of horseback riding, walking, cycling, and ecotourism experiences organized by farms such as the Hato La Aurora Nature Reserve.
The life of an Indian cowboy among herds and crocodiles
Exciting and unforgettable is the close encounter with these savannah animals similar to African animals in vegetation but not in the species they inhabit: here the Orinoco crocodile, armadillo, black vulture, anaconda or the world’s largest black grouse are the undisputed lords. Bird watching is also a beautiful experience in Llanos orientales as horsemen and amazons perform accompanying songs with harps and harps, and use riverbanks as a stage from which the red of the sky is reflected in the clear waters at sunset. Tradition also attaches great importance to colorful clothing for women and white in general for men, who even on horseback when riding rivers do not give up that dress that makes them the most elegant cowboy in the world. Genuine hospitality can now be found in Fincas called hatos, and even in Corocora Camp – it is ideal for accommodation in its neat, welcoming and well-equipped camps – one can appreciate the centuries-old traditions of the llaneros: watch them when they clean their tools, which they use to control the grazing herd, This means absorbing the details, even the physical, of this breed of horsemen who generally belong to the Indians. Skilled at making a fire to keep warm from the bitter cold of the night, and at roasting meat over a fire seasoned with spices, they will tell the legends of Llanos Orientales, one of the last remaining paradises on earth, until dawn.
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