Day Trip to Chingaza National Park

A few months ago, we shared with you our small excursion to Chingaza National Park, where we embarked on a quest to spot the spectacled bear and indeed caught sight of it. We want to share this immense joy with you, which is why we have developed an active 1-day program where alpine hikers and nature enthusiasts can fully indulge.

Blooming Freilejones in the Paramo ecosystem

Chingaza National Park is of existential importance for the drinking water supply of approximately 10 million inhabitants of Bogota. About 70% of the water used in this gigantic city originates here. The entrance fees we pay contribute to ensuring the continued protection of the National Park.

 

Here is a brief description of the new tour:

Departure 6:00 am. Bogota - Chingaza Park. Vehicle journey (approximately 2 to 3 hours each way) In this journey we will make a stop at typical restaurants in La Calera for breakfast and we will also enter the National Parks Office for our registrations and permits. 

We will continue our journey from La Calera to Chingaza National Park, passing by the Piedras Gordas checkpoint, the entrance to the park where we will be welcomed by National Parks officials.

Then we continue to the Monte Redondo refuge. Here is the home of the guardians of this park (place where many deer are seen) and we will make two tours: One by the Sua-Sie Trail that lasts approximately 2.5 hours and another by the Laguna Seca Circuit that also lasts 2.5 hours approximately. 

White-tailed deer in the Chingaza National Park

Sua-Sie is at a maximum altitude of 3`200 meters above sea level, in a high Andean forest ecosystem. This tour is focused on wildlife observation, it is almost 4 kms with 200 meters of slope.

The trail of Laguna Seca and Laguna Verde has an extension of approximately 2.5 kilometers and you can appreciate the paramo ecosystem through a system of wetlands and wonderful frailejones. During the flowering time of the frailejones we can appreciate the bearded hummingbird of the paramo, to see it is a great gift of the mountain.

After this we proceed to return by the road that leaves the moor and the park. The view is beautiful, enjoy it.

Note: This will be two high mountain hikes, so you need to be in good physical condition. We will be between 2,900 masl and 3,200 masl. The difficulty is medium and the walk on the Sua Sie trail lasts approximately 2 to 3 hours and the walk in Laguna Seca lasts another 2 to 3 hours. It is necessary to bring adequate clothing for the paramo (jacket and pants in waterproof fibers preferably, cap, rain boots or mountain boots of high cane), change of clothes, sun block for skin and lips, water bottle, camera, personal documents.