Río Claro Reserva Natural
We had a wonderfully rustic adventure at Río Claro Reserva Natural for the Colombian holiday weekend a few weeks ago. And when I say rustic, I mean rustic. I knew going into it that there wouldn’t be hot water or A/C in our cabana, but I was not prepared for how bare-bones it would really be. From the bed that might have been made of rock, a barely-there thin towel, to a leaky roof that splashed drops of water on my head every so often that first night. After that first night, I put one of the dinky towels on the mosquito net covering the bed to avoid the water torture and slept much better the next two nights! But first, check out our drive through the Andes to get there. This drive is a must-do. The winding mountain roads offered vistas of the Andes, people on bikes being pulled up the steep hills by trucks, even “hop-ons.” (if you’ve ever seen Arrested Development, you get it).
The Reserva is beautiful with a river running through a canyon made of marble. It’s called Rio Claro because the river is usually crystal clear. I have to say usually…after heavy rains, the Rio Claro is not so claro. We got to experience firsthand what the river looks like after heavy rains. Our first night there it stormed all night long. Literally. All. Night. Long. It was loud: the thunder, the rain, the river; it was bright: the cabana being open-air meant every flash of lightning struck my closed eyelids. The rain either drowned out the sound of the frogs and insects, or it was raining so hard they all took deep cover to avoid being washed away by the rains.
Our cabana was about a kilometer walk along the river on a partially paved rock trail through the tropical forest from the reception/restaurant. Walking back to our cabana each night after dinner was my favorite activity by far. That first night stay, there was only one other family staying at the Reserve so the path between our cabana and the restaurant was deserted. Walking back to our room with our headlamps, we were able to spot a ton of toads, frogs, spiders, and even a tail-less scorpion!
Our other activities included spelunking in a cave the river carved out of marble and rafting—with guides that didn’t speak a word of English. We’ve been many places where there was little to no English spoken: our local neighborhood in Ho Chi Minh City, hiking in Nikko, Japan, little mountain villages in Switzerland, etc., but this was our first experience of being somewhere where we had to rely on our Spanish speaking skills exclusively. These are the moments when you realize how much Spanish you really don’t know. And are surprised at how much you actually do know. There was a lot we didn’t understand. But by (repeatedly) saying “lo siento, no entiendo” and “hablamos un poco español,” we were able to get them to dumb down their language enough to understand the gist of where to park, when to meet for our tours, what was for lunch, etc. But, fair warning-if you don't speak much more than “cerveza, por favor” or “dónde está el baño,” this might not be the adventure for you.
I am not a great fan of tunnels and caves, but I do love an adventure! The prices for activities at Rio Claro are more than reasonable at $30,000 COP (about $8.25USD) for the cavern activity.
The marble cave was carved by the Bornego gorge, which makes it unique to start, but it’s also home to the “guacharos,” an endemic bird of Colombia and Venezuela in danger of extinction. As we trekked (spelunked?) through the cave I think the dragon-like screeching of the guacharos gave me more discomfort than being in a small dark tunnel. I tried to capture the sound on video, but the sound of the water rushing through the cave was too loud.
To quote the Reserve’s English website about the activity, “To get there, you have to walk along a path, smelling of the jungle, through the forest of the goblins.” Or better said in Español on their website, “Para llegar hasta ella hay que realizar una caminata por trocha, con olor a selva, por el bosque de los duendes.”
The rafting along the Rio Claro supposedly has class 2 rapids. I didn’t notice any on our float down the river though. The rafting was only slightly more expensive than the caving, $40,000 COP ($11 USD). It was a fun day on the water and we saw (and floated under!) some beautiful waterfalls.
