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Overview

Highlights:

  • Explore the ruins of an ancient Prehispanic City known as the Lost City Teyuna, in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, declared by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve of Man and Humanity.
  • Enjoy a fantastic 5 days trekking through the forest in the world’s highest mountain on the shores of the sea.

Tour details:

  • Duration of the trip: 5 days. Keep in mind that you have to arrive to Santa Marta the day before to the expedition and that you surely want to stay another day in the Santa Marta town, we can recommend a hotel.

If you are a VERY FIT you could do it in 4 days; If you are JUST FIT, you can do it in 5 days. Check here our 4-day program just for very fit people, people who have done it in 4 days have arrived very tired and some with knee injuries.

  • Level of effort: “VOLCANO” (4 on a scale of 1 to 5) See Levels…
  • Comfort level: between 2 and 3 on a scale of 1 to 5. See Levels… It is a remote territory with very basic tourist facilities: cabins and hammocks, communal bathrooms, camping-style food, prepared by our cooks in the camps. We will spend 4 nights in cabins or hammocks in mountain camps.
  • Trekking time: Up to 7 hours crossing the jungle
  • Distance: 9 to 18 km each day
  • Ecosystem: Rain forest
  • Climate:hot, extremely humid, with a temperature between 25 ° C and 35 ° C and a relative humidity between 80% and 90%. The rainy season is between May and November of each year.
  • Elevation above sea level: 100 – 1.122 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l)
  • Location: Lost City It rises between 900 and 1,200 meters high, on the foothills of Cerro Correa, in the northern part of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the Department of Magdalena, on the right bank of the Buritaca River

The Archaeological Park Teyuna, also known as “Lost City”, home of the Tayrona people, the most monumental pre-Columbian civilization of the country, is located in this sierra.

This magnificent sierra, with its snow-covered summits, is the tallest coastal mountain in the world. It also has the two highest peaks in Colombia.

At present, nearly 30.000 Indians from the Kogi, Arhuaco, Kakuamo and Wiwa cultures live here. The Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta was declared by Unesco as a Reserve of Biosphere, Man and Humankind in 1979.

Ciudad Perdida (Spanish for “Lost City”) is the archaeological site of an ancient city. It is believed to have been founded about 800 AD, some 650 years earlier than Machu Picchu. This location is also known as Buritaca and the Native Americans call it Teyuna.

Ciudad Perdida was discovered in 1972, when a group of local treasure looters found a series of stone steps rising up the mountainside and followed them to an abandoned city which they named “Green Hell” or “Wide Set”. When gold figurines and ceramic urns from this city began to appear in the local black market, authorities revealed the site in 1975.

Ciudad Perdida consists of a series of 169 terraces carved into the mountainside, a net of tiled roads and several small circular plazas. The entrance can only be accessed by a climb up some 1,200 stone steps through dense jungle.

Ubication

Dates

This trip departs each day throughout the year.

This expedition can be done at any time of the year (except for the month of September) with your family group or friends, forming a private group. In this case, the price would depend on the number of people that make up your group. Contact us at our email: info@ecoglobalexpeditions.com to advise you.

Open Group Dates:

  • March 23 to 27, 2024 (Holy Week)
  • March 27 to 31, 2024 (Holy Week)
  • May 1-5, 2024
  • June 6-10, 2024
  • June 27 to July 1, 2024
  • August 3-7, 2024
  • August 7-11, 2024
  • October 10 to 14 (Recess week)
  • November 7 to 11, 2024

The Archaeological Park of Teyuna – Ciudad Perdida will remain CLOSED on the following dates:

  • September 1 to 30, 2023
  • December 25, 2023
  • January 1, 2024

Price

Prices Lost City 5 days 2024:

  • COP $2,150,000 per person

Remember that you must arrive in Santa Marta one day before because we will pick you up at your hotel at 8:00 am. And you will surely want to stay in Santa Marta the last night.

For these two nights we recommend:

Hotel Tayromar: It is a simple, comfortable and clean hotel very close to the beach and in the historic center:

LOW SEASON – January 16 to December 24, 2023:

ROOM PRICE per night:

  • Single room price: COP$
  • Double room price: COP$
  • Triple room price: COP$
  • Quadruple room price: COP$

HIGH SEASON – December 25 to January 15, 2024:

ROOM PRICE per night:

  • Single room price: COP$
  • Double room price: COP$
  • Triple room price: COP$
  • Quadruple room price: COP$

Hotel Ribai: Intermediate category hotel, has parking, swimming pool and Wi-Fi

Price valid until December 15, 2023:

ROOM PRICE per night:

  • Single room price: COP$
  • Double room price: COP$
  • Triple room price: COP$

**Do you want a more comfortable superior category hotel? Ask us and we will get it for you.

How to book

This expedition is classified as a “Solo Adventure” (read here all the information about this type of expeditions). You can book it any date of the year. For bookings, please email us to info@ecoglobalexpeditions.com

What’s included

  • Transfer Santa Marta – Machete Pelao – Santa Marta / 4×4 / Truck
  • 4 nights accommodation in hammocks or beds at Cottage  (Indian huts) (includes hammocks /  does not include sleeping bag)
  • National Park Permit
  • All meals and Snacks, except lunch and dinner first day and dinner last trekking day
  • Medical insurance
  • Guidance and logistics during the expedition. The guidance is made by local guides who know the territory like no one! The guides prepare all meals during the expedition, the food is basic, if you have special requirements as regard to food please let us know.

What's not included

  • 2 Hotel nights at Santa Marta ir required
  • Personal equipment
  • Tips
  • Porters or mules
  • Additional drinks
  • Local, national or international calls
  • Activities not included in the itinerary

Itinerary

Note:

*The following itinerary is for the purpose of general information and may change without notice according to weather conditions or contingencies that may arise.

*This is a typical itinerary for 5 trekking days expeditions.

*For the 4 trekking days expedition, day 4th is removed in the following itinerary.

Day 0

Reception at the hotel in Santa Marta (transfer from the airport can be arranged with us, additional cost would apply), registration and accommodation.

Day 1

After breakfast, departure from Santa Marta in the morning in 4 x 4 vehicles (Jeep) to the Mamey region (2 ½ hours on the way). After lunch in the path of Machete, the ascent hike begins in search of the footprint left by the Tayronas, builders of Teyuna. The walk is approximately 4 hours to the first camp. The first camp is located in a settler farm (we will stay at Adan’s or Alfredo’s camp depending on availability), a place prepared with hammocks and cabins to spend the night. Dinner and accommodation.

Throughout the tour we can enjoy the biodiversity of the tropical rainforest, crossing its rivers and streams becoming an adventure. We will take baths in natural wells and waterfalls and we will have the opportunity to observe a great variety of birds, some endemic, among the exuberant vegetation. Along the way, we will meet in a natural way with the indigenous Koguis and Arsarios in their daily tasks, the first (Koguis) descendants of the Tayrona culture.

Day 2

Early in the morning we have breakfast and then start the walk descending to the Buritaca river valley. Along the way we will find some indigenous houses, which make up the small town known as Mutanzi (Kogui Indigenous People). Shortly after noon and after a 40 minute walk we will arrive at the second camp (Mumake) where we will have lunch. In the afternoon we will start a tour of approximately 4 hours, taking breaks, along indigenous trails in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Natural Park. We will pass through some sectors where there are traces left by the ancient inhabitants of the region. Finally we will cross the Buritaca river to reach the third camp of Mamo Romulado, where we will have dinner and spend the night in hammocks or beds with mosquito nets.

Day 3

The day will begin by walking 20 minutes to the Buritaca River, to cross it and begin an ascent of a stone staircase of more than 1,200 steps, to reach “Teyuna”, the Lost City of the Tayronas, a sacred territory for the indigenous people. We will know the archaeological sites and in general the work carried out by the Tayronas. The guide will offer information that will allow us to learn about the history of this wonderful place. We will return to the Mamo Romulado camp for lunch and after noon we depart back to the second camp (Mumake) where we will have dinner and spend the night (approximately 4 hour walk). This camp is very close to the Buritaca river, we will have time to refresh ourselves in its wonderful natural pools.

Day 4

We continue going down after breakfast with a walk of approximately 4 hours to the first camp (Adán or Alfredo) where we will have lunch.

Visit the waterfall of the Hondura river.

Dinner and accommodation.

Day 5

We begin the return to the Mamey, where we will have lunch and transport that will take us to Santa Marta, arriving in the city between 4 and 5 in the afternoon, satisfied to have visited a place full of Biodiversity, Archeology and living culture. Check-in at the hotel and accommodation.

 

Travel tips

  • Be previously vaccinated against yellow fever and tetanus.
  • Don’t bring items that are typically used by the military (i.e. camouflage clothing).
  • Don’t bring or take toxic, psychoactive or hallucinogenic and alcoholic substances.
  • Bring the least amount of wrappers, cans or glass.
  • Don’t bring jewelry or valuables – Rolex watches and Cartier earrings; please leave them at home!
  • During the trek, don’t separate from the group and don’t remain alone at any time.
  • Bear in mind that we will be staying in a very remote place and our hosts will do everything for us as best as they can, given the local conditions and culture.
  • We want that during our visit to these remote, remote and often forgotten territories, all: guides, coordinators and tourists, we contribute to the economy of these regions and small towns, buying in the stores, stores, bakeries and restaurants, their products and merchandise (such as sweets, chocolates, soft drinks, sweets, fruits, etc.) and acquiring local handicrafts. It is a small support through which we include these communities in the tourism value chain. If you like to consume very sophisticated foods or special diets (almonds, sugar-free chocolates, dried seeds or dehydrated fruits, for example), which you will not be able to get in the shops of the villages, we recommend you take them with you. Thank you for joining this initiative, this is called sustainable tourism!

Personal equipment list:

  • Day pack – 30 / 40 lt.
  • Back packing / Trekking boots
  • Seeping bag (optional)
  • Head lamp and extra batteries
  • 1 lt Water containers (Nalgene type) or Camel Back
  • Trekking poles (optional)
  • Personal toiletries
  • Small towel
  • Sun block # 60/100
  • Hat/Cap
  • Camera
  • Identity documents (passport)
  • Personal medicine
  • Sandals
  • Swimming suit
  • Rain coat /plastic poncho
  • Insect Repellent

Note: Keep all your clothing and equipment in plastic bags