General Information

SERRANÍA DE LA MACARENA.

Historical Data

• The Serranía de La Macarena is considered by scientists around the world as one of the most important wildlife refuges in the world
• The Serranía de La Macarena  was established as a national park in 1978.
• The Serranía de La Macarena  has a total area of 629.280 hectares.

Location and Weather

Located in the department of Meta (East of Colombia) in the jurisdiction of the municipalities of La Macarena, Plateaus, Vistahermosa, San Juan de Arama, and Puerto Rico.

The average temperature, except in the upper part of the serranía-  which is close to 16 ° C, ranges from 25°C-  to 26°C.

How to get there

• Ground  routes:

The park is crossed by a series of trails and paths aimed at articulating the hamlets and villages to major urban centers or exit sites to these. These are roads under construction:

 Piñalito New Colombia

 Colorado Barranco (Rio Ariari) -Bellavista

 Laguna Bellavista- Tigre.

The passengers transport is provided by the company Fleet Macarena, which has service to all urban areas of municipalities with interference  in the Park, Also there are cooperatives or associations of transporters in the village; campers which provide services to all areas.

• River routes:

River routes are used transport goods, passengers and local products, especially in the larger rivers like the Guayabera, Duda, Losada, Cafre  and Cabra, articulating the dweller  of  Park with populated- centers such as Macarena , New Colombia, Carp, Concordia, Puerto Lleras and San Jose del Guaviare.

Speedboats transport passengers with capacity from 12 to 20 passengers, The routes are between Puerto Lleras and San José del Guaviare in winter; - to the other ports as the Macarena and Puerto Concordia.

• Air routes:

Bogotá - Villavicencio (30 minutes )

Villavicencio - La Macarena (One hour )

The park has an airstrip for light aircraft with a length of 1800 meters.

Some sayings from the region

• Andar en mocho tubilio:  Go walking.
• Como los pescados entre dos aguas: that it is not here and it is not  there.
• Al perro que no conozcas no le cojas el rabo:  If you don't know someone, you must be  prudent.
• Cuando diga que el burro es negro no le busque pelos blancos: If I say that something is like this, you must believe this.

Economy of the region

It is based on agricultural activities, followed by services, trade and industry. Agricultural activities are dominated by cattle ranching. The most representative agricultural products are rice, corn, sugarcane, banana, cassava, cocoa and cotton.