Colombian Amazon: Jungle, Landscapes and Local Communities

Your adventure in Colombia has just started.  A private driver will be waiting at the airport to take you to your accommodations, about 40 minutes away.  The rest of the day is yours to get settled,  explore the neighborhood, drink some Colombian coffee, and start getting familiarized with the culture. 

Welcome dinner at Mini Mal: Mini Mal, an eclectic restaurant in Bogota’s Chapinero Alto district, is bringing iconic dishes and culinary traditions from the Pacific to your plate, financially supporting community projects up and down the Chocó coast in the process. Expect seafood cuisine bathed in coconut milk and green curry, crumbling coconut cakes, and the Pacific’s most representative dish, jungle-plucked piangua, to be on the menu.  

Included activities: Private transportation from the airport, welcome dinner.

Optional activities:

Breaking Borders: Leaving their life of crime behind, the locals leading this tour of Barrio Egipto are tapping into tourism to open doors and tell their story. With every step, down streets dripping in meaningful murals and crowded with modest homes, learn the story of transformation, community, and hope redefining a previously gang-ridden corner of Colombia’s capital city.  

Colombian dishes cooking class: After your morning food tour, you might crave some other Colombian delicacies. If that's the case, get ready to don the apron and go to a local kitchen for a fun cooking class. You will learn from your expert cook how to prepare the dish of your selection and a dessert to end the night properly.

Coffee Masters tour: Call yourself a coffee master after this immersive tour that includes a peek inside a local roastery, a barista-led specialty coffee tasting, and a visit to the local market for a classic tinto amidst the buzz of everyday life in Bogota. By the tour’s end, you’ll have a full circle understanding of not only the coffee production process but the deep-rooted coffee culture of Colombia.

Accommodations:

Option 1- 3-star hotel: Casa Lelyte

Situated in the lively downtown of Bogota and within walking distance of attractions like Zone G, the financial district, Zona Rosa, and the up-and-coming Chapinero Alto, Casa Lelyte is brimming with creature comforts. Every room of this boutique hotel features thoughtful touches like a seating area, personal computer, DVD player, and tasteful art and cultural references that bring that oh-so-important sense of place to your stay.  Casa Lelyte is owned by a local female chef who has also established an innovative concept in the hotel’s restaurant, by creating plant-based plates that will send your palate on a gastronomic journey through unexplored flavors and hearty vegetarian food with ingredients sourced from local farms. The owner also supports local art and hosts live music events and pop-shows where people can get to know the artists, that way everyone can get in touch with local culture in an experiential way. 

Option 2- 4-star hotel: The Click Clack

In the lively neighborhood of El Chicó, Click Clack offers an eclectic and high-tech stay, steps from Parque de la 93 and the clubs and restaurants of Zona T. While the sleek and spacious rooms spanning eleven floors are captivating in features and design, there’s plenty to pull you away from your floor-to-ceiling window views, including a rooftop bar, cozy restaurant, and lavish breakfast buffet.

Option 3- 5-star hotel: Casa Legado

Feel right at home at Casa Legado, a 50’s style boutique hotel in Bogota’s trendy Quinta Camacho neighborhood. Every room and detail comes with a story inspired by the family home of the owners themselves, meaning the comfort and coziness of home is simply part of the guest experience.

Pack your bags and wait for your driver to take you to Bogotá's airport to hop on a 2-hour flight to Leticia. The adventure awaits. 

Upon arrival to the Amazon's capital, you can grab something to eat and walk around the property. Then, you'll pack what's needed the following days and pick up the jungle equipment. The rest of your luggage will be kept safe at the hotel. If you have an adventurous spirit, go along two steel zip lines of 35m and 100m in length and a suspension bridge 25m off the ground. Dinner will be waiting for you once you finish the activity. To end up your day, go on a guided 30-minute jungle walk to start familiarizing yourself with the ecosystem. 

Alternative activities: Go kayaking in the river or visit a natural reservoir to appreciate the flora and fauna of the place.

Included Activities:  Ziplining, a guided night walk in the jungle.

Transportation: 2-hour flight from Bogotá to Leticia, 30-minute taxi drive to Ohmshanty lodge.

Accommodations:  Lodging will be in private cabins situated among the trees, at around 10m (32ft) at Reserva Natural Tanimboca. Tanimboca focuses on sustainability and takes environmental and community care very seriously. The cabins are called “malokas”, which are traditional indigenous houses made of wood and rustic equipment. If preferred, you can also stay in hammocks at the communities’ houses. 

After breakfast, head to the Tacana community and go on a 1-hour river canoeing guided by one of its members.  Back in the community, share a traditional lunch with them. Afterward, you'll visit a Chagra (small crops where families cultivate) and learn what their main foods are. Late in the evening you'll have dinner and go for a night walk in search of wildlife, or you can also go fishing with the locals. 

Included Activities: Canoeing in Tacana river, lunch with the community, visit to a Chagra, night walk, or fishing with the locals. 

Accommodations: this night you'll stay within the community, in a small house in the jungle provided with hammocks and mosquito nets. If preferred, you can spend one more night at Tanimboca's reserve.

Go on a 1-hour walk to the multi-ethnic village, share some time with the local communities and get ready to be taken back to Ohmsanty lodging. After having some rest, you will be taken to the postcard-worthy Yahuarcaca lakes where a kayaking activity surrounded by lush vegetation and exotic wildlife awaits. After the kayak ride, lunch will be served at Kurupira floating cabin. You'll end the day with a visit to the Victoria Regia's Natural Reserve to admire this beautiful waterlily and some fauna species as macaws and monkeys. 

Included activities: walk to a multi-ethnic village, kayaking in the Yahuarcaca lakes, visit to the Victoria Regia Natural reserve.

Transportation:  30-minute drive to Ohmshanty lodge.

Accommodations: You'll spend the night at Kurupira floating cabin. The hotel is located on the Amazon river.

Hop on a speedboat to the ecological community of Puerto Nariño, where cars and motorcycles are not allowed as part of their conservation efforts, which makes it very special. Walk around the town and visit the Natütama Interpretative Center to learn about the conservation and ecological efforts developed in the Amazon. Head to Tarapoto lake to spot the gray and pink dolphins and have a swim in the lake. Then, have a short walk to appreciate the two most representative trees of the region, Capinuri and Renaco.

Included activities: speedboat to Puerto Nariño, visit to Natütama Interpretative Center, Visit to Puerto Nariño's observation tower, dolphin-spotting and swimming at Tarapoto lake.

Transportation: 40-minute speedboat to Puerto Nariño.

Accommodation: lodging will be at a 3-star hotel in Puerto Nariño.

Wake up bright and early, pack your bags and return to Leticia via speedboat. From Leticia, head to Santa Rosa island in Peru, to enjoy an authentic Peruvian ceviche in a terrace with the Amazon river as a view. You'll be taken back to the airport for your flight back home. 

Leave Colombia feeling amazed by the world's biodiversity and the healing power of nature. We hope to welcome you back soon.

Included activities:  visit to Santa Rosa island and ceviche lunch.

Transportation: 1-hour speedboat to Leticia, 24-minute taxi drive to the airport.

Accommodations

1 night in your selected accommodation in Bogotá, 5 nights of lodging in ecolodges and hammocks in the Amazon region.

Tours & Activities

As per the itinerary. Entrance fees are included in the specified activities.

Translator

English to Spanish, accompanying your local guides.

Transportation

Will be private in Bogotá and in the transfers to and from the airport in Bogotá. The rest of the transportation will be by shared boat or cars.

Domestic flights

Airfare in economy class

Meals

As specified in the itinerary. BB = Boxed Breakfast, B= Breakfast; L= Lunch; D= Dinner

24/7 assistance

For any questions, recommendations or inquiries that might arise during the trip.

Jungle kit

Including hammock, mosquito net and rubber boots.

Entry taxes

To Leticia and the indigenous reserve.

Travel Insurance

All the activities have a risk insurance covered by us, but international travel insurance is not included.

Meals and drinks

Not specified on the itinerary.

Tips

For your local drivers and guides.

Optional activities

Out of the ones scheduled in the itinerary.

Cancellation fees will apply depending on the anticipation with which the trip is canceled as follows:

• 0-10 days before the trip's starting date: 100% non-refundable.

• 11-21 days before the trip's starting date: 70% non-refundable. 

• 22 -31 days before the trip's starting date: 50% non-refundable.

• +32 days before the trip's starting date: 15% non-refundable.

Notes

• Specific cancellation policies apply for the Christmas/end of year season (December 20 through January 10) and Easter week.

• Cancellation policies, especially with hotels and airlines, may vary due to COVID-19.