Colombia: Rio Claro

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I met two swiss guys, Pascal and Julien, In the hostel in Medellin, who were heading to Rio Claro, so I made a last minute decision to join them, and a good decision that was!

Rio Claro is a nature reserve about 3hrs from Medellin, with the main feature being the pristine River (Rio Claro). We hadn't booked any accomodation, so when we walked past a campground we decided to give it a try. We managed to hire a tent (at least it resembled one) from the guy who managed the grounds, and stayed there for 4 days.

We spent the time there relaxing, swimming, fishing and sitting around the campfire. We also managed to hire some tubes, so also spent a few hours floating down the river, stopping to jump off some cliffs, exploring a cave, and relaxing some more.

Pablo Escobar's estate is also quite close to Rio Claro, so one day we decided to visit his hacienda. It's a massive estate, and he used to have his own private zoo, which is now public. So on the way to his house, we saw a baby hippo, ostriches, zebra and many other animals. His house is basically a ruin now, since after his death his estate was plundered, and local legend has it that he buried millions of dollars in cash somewhere on his estate. So his house, swimmingpool and grounds are pretty dug up. He also had his own private airstrip on his estate, and you can imagine the amount of goods that were transported from there!

After another day relaxing in Rio Claro, it was time to hit the Caribbean coast!

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Photos

Hacienda Napoles
Pablo Escobar's estate