Travel Adventures: birds

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Valley of Cocora (valle de Cocora), Salento, Acaime Reserve

Valley of Cocora
To get to valle de Cocora jeeps leave the central park of Salento when they have enough people so when I arrived on Sunday at 8:30 they had enough people so I didnt have to wait. Cost 3,400 COP, ride took about 30 minutes.
From where they drop off in the valley they had some places selling food and snacks. I walked up the hill to the blue gate where there are signs about the park and trails and started the walk to Acaime reserve. It was pretty straight forward, just follow the main path and the signs. On the weekends there are lots of people doing the trail so its hard to get too lost. There is a trout farm at the beginning of the trail. To enter its 2,000 COP and I am not sure the price but you can go "fishing" there. I didnt enter as it didnt seem to be a tour but more a fee to enter. The hike to Acaime took me around 2 hours. At Acaime you pay 4,000 COP and then get a free drink of your choice of hot or cold beverages. They have hummingbird feeders and quite a few different types of hummingbirds. They also seem to have a small museum but it was closed. Its a nice place to stop and relax. From there I hiked the trail to the "mountain" or the viewpoint. It was about a 30 minute hike uphill to a restaurant that served lunch and drinks. The view wasnt very good as it was covered in clouds so I couldnt see any "view" so I kept walking. The walk down was nice. The national tree of Colombia a tall very tall Palm tree called Palm Ceroxylon make for a beautiful landscape.

Salento
The town is cute and on the weekends the central park is very busy with locals. There is a street off the central park that leads to a viewpoint of the city and is lined with places selling food and crafts. Then the mirador leads to another viewpoint of the valley.