Get to know the beautiful Otún Lake, the moorland ecosystem and the high mountains of the Los Nevados National Park.
Los Nevados National Park is located on the central mountain range of the Colombian Andes and has an extension of 61,200 hectares, a maximum altitude of 5,321 meters (Nevado del Ruiz summit), and a minimum altitude of 2,600 meters at the Andean forests. The park is located between Caldas, Risaralda, Quindío and Tolima departments. Its wide geography features three volcanoes (Ruiz, Santa Isabel and Tolima), large paramo areas (alpine moorland), forests, lakes and rivers where many species of animals and plants live; some of theme endangered species.
The trip that is listed bellow is a beautiful one-day journey to Los Nevados National Park, which main goal is to go up to visit the Otún Lake, and get to know the beautiful paramo ecosystem.
The city of departure depends on the location of our travellers; it can be either Manizales or Pereira.
We will initiate our 40 Km trip at dawn in order to be able to appreciate the sunrise. We will start our ascent by taking a beautiful and colorful road from where we can appreciate the Andean landscapes; this is a two hours trip by a 4×4 vehicle that take us to Los Nevados National Park entrance, a place known as Potosi (3.900 meters). Once there, we will have breakfast and have some time to enjoy the nature and listen to some locals. Afterwards, we will receive an informative talk from officials from the National Park then we will continue by foot for about two hours until we reach the amazing Otún Lagoon, the biggest on this National Park. There we will have time to watch the landscape, take photos and rest. During the trip back we will make some pauses to take more photos, rest and get to know a bit about this special ecosystem that is present only in five countries in the world and plays a very important roll around our water sources, also we will learn about the strange plants that inhabit the place. Back in Potosi we will have a well-deserved typical lunch then, we will go back to the vehicles in order to return to either Manizales or Pereira.
Duration: 5 horas (12 Km)
Altitude Gain: 200 meters
Altitude Loss: 200 meters
Maximum Altitude: 4.100 meters
+ Professional guide authorized by the National Park.
+ Medical insurance.
+ Full meals: 1 breakfast and 1 lunch.
+ Land transport: Manizales o Pereira – Los Nevados National Park – Manizales o Pereira.
+ Entrance permits to Los Nevados National Park.
+ All the activities described in the itinerary.
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+ Not specified expenses.
What a beautiful lake! Incredible mountains!
Thank you SAWA for the tour.
Diana Maria
An amazing walk and at the same time beautiful. I loved the frailejones and the paramos flowers, the water cushions and of course, the immense lake. I will be back thousand of times!
Juliana
A beautiful tour to get to know the Park in only one day. The way up by car last about two hours but the landscape is amazing. The lake is very beautiful and the paramos is very special. Very good guidance by Germán and all of the agency organization.
Cheers.
Francisco
