Hiking in Tayrona National Park
Like everyone who visits Colombia, we had also heard of Tayrona National Park, known for its beautiful unspoiled nature and the beautiful hikes you can do. A must-do if you are in the Palomino/Santa Marta area. And so the adventure began. Read our story here…
A different hike from that of many visitors….
Very optimistically, we made another vlog for the family at home that we had been walking for 4 hours and that we only had “2 more hours” to go! Nothing could be further from the truth…
When the receptionist at our hostel (Eco hostel Yuluka) said that we could hike Tayrona hike in 6 hours, that already seemed pretty tough to us but still we started the hike in good spirits! From the National Park entrance you will be taken to the starting point of the hike. The first kilometers were beautiful with an insane view of the sea, cliffs that ran straight down, great nature (here and there a big mud puddle that you had to get around) and animals such as howler monkeys and different kinds of birds.
Very optimistically, we made another vlog for the family at home that we had been walking for 4 hours and that we only had “2 more hours” to go! Nothing could be further from the truth…
Where we spent the first few hours hiking, by now we were scrambling hard. Moaning, we said to each other “Couldn’t the receptionist have told you to climb like a monkey, descend as if you had the strong legs of a horse, a condition of a cheetah and lose as much fluid as from the blowhole of an orca?” Or, had we taken a wrong turn while chatting, singing and admiring nature? Knowing us, this was exactly what must have happened….
There is no one who can do this route (the wrong one, that is) in 6 hours, so we took not 6 but 9 hours.Did we like it? In the beginning yes……but soon we were no longer paying attention to the nature we were trudging through, but every rock felt like a victory.
When, after more than an hour of scrambling, we were told that we had to climb and scramble over rocks for another hour (which I couldn’t have gotten over with my short legs without help) and then walk for another 3 hours uphill and downhill, we were both fed up. We ran out of the water we were carrying and there were no snacks left in our bags. Fortunately, we ran into a group of Argentine girls who shared some peanuts and water with us, so we still had something to keep us going.
23 kilometers, 182 floors and more than 31,000 steps further…..with pain in our back, hip and knees, we crossed the finish line just before closing time: we did it! No Christmas kilos for us this year 😉
By Mellijn
Travel date December 2017
Updated February 2023
#ColombiaTips
#Tip 1) Check the route in advance!
If necessary, ask fellow hikers along the way if they are walking the same route as you, to avoid ending up in weather as severe as ours. Standard route: Calabazo to El Zaino (or the other way around, too!).
#Tip 2) If you start from Calabazo and hike via Playa Brava (about a 4-hour walk), from Playa Brava to El Zaino it is about another 2-hour walk. During the first part (from Calabazo to Playa Brava) you have to climb and descend quite a bit, this is a lot more challenging than the second part of the route. Then once you get to Playa Brava, the second part of the route is a piece of cake 😉
#Tip 3) Want to master Spanish faster? Then set your phone settings to Spanish! It helped me shift gears faster in Spanish.
#Tip 4) At least once a year, Tayrona is closed to visitors so that the indigenous groups can perform spiritual rituals and restore the ecosystem.
Closing dates 2023
Feb. 1-15
June 1-15
Oct 19 – Nov 2
#Tip 5) Want to hike in the park with a guide? Then check out this Tayrona hike and beach tour.Check here nice hotels in and around Tayrona National Park.
