safety tyrona national park and leticia

hi there,
i'm planing to travel to colombia in january. i would like to do a jungle trip from leticia
and check out the santa marta area incl. the lost city. but you hear many controverdial stories
about those areas! has anybody been in these areas lately? some people say leticia would be the only safe area
in the amazon?? anybody been on the brazilian or peruanean area close to leticia? is that any safer than the colombian side? would anybody recomend to do a 2 or 3 day jungle tour there. (we'll be a blond german couple, so we could be an
easy to spot gringo victim ;-). also i've heard of dangers/kidnappings in the tyr.natinal park/lost city???
on the other hand side people keep telling me how cool and safe santa marta and taganga is?? so it just the park itself that is dangerous? i hope you someone can give me some news/infos on that.....thanxxxxxx Reply to this

hi sasdad,
yes i did go to colombia last year. first of all, what a great and amazing country.
we felt safe all the way, people are so friendly. just leave your expensive clothes and jewelery
at home ;-). leticia and our amazonas trip has been awesome, too. leticia seemed totaly safe.
i would recommend to book a lodge (incl. pick up/ transfer) in advance. i can recommend a
lodge called palmari. you can find them on the internet. not the cheapest, but well organized
and great located. santa marta and taganga area was great, too. no problem to find a cheap place to stay,
or use the public transports/busses, there. our trips from taganga to the tayrona national park
have been fantastic. very few tourists (don't go on wekkends), and beautiful beaches all the way.
i would recommend to stay over a night or two in the park, as taganga or santa marta is about a 2 hour drive away. at the caribean coast (like taganga) you can party your ass off, too of you want to
with lots of cuba libres (as they dring lots of rum there) ;-). taganga has a lot of backpackers from all over
the world, but it's still pretty relaxed there....."la garage" is the place to go.......
don't forget to check out beatiful cartagena and playa blanca! bogota has been nice and very good for
going out, too....... Reply to this

Santa Martha ,Tacanga are safe as can be.Incredible part of the world.Some of the cheapest Scuba Courses in the world ,only place cheaper is Honduras.About Leticia read my entry in SASDADs question in this forum.I agree with everything KNARCO says but would also add Capurgana ,in the Colombian Choco district ,to that list .Incredible part of the world and you can walk 5 or so KMs through the jungle to Panama.From Turbo you get a small boat to Capurgana and is possible to cointinue on from here to Panama City.Joseph Silver ,a Hawaian native, at Darien Cabañas in Capurgana will give you all the advice you need to have an adventure you'll never forget ,including horse treks into the Darien Wilderness where you share paths with drugrunners and/or FARC guerillas and Paramilitaries.It is all safe these days as the real trouble has moved further inland away from the growing Army presence.Enjoy Colombia.I LOVE IT.And feel free to message me any other Qs you might have Reply to this

myself and 3 mates (all from australia) will also be heading to leticia in January to take a boat down the amazon river to Belem..

what would be the best way to get to Leticia from Bogota?

cost? time? ect?

any help would be appreciated 😊

cheers Reply to this

Be careful with your belongings in Tayrona. We heard of numerous people having money stolen from their tents - the thief was taking a small amount each time hoping that people wouldn't notice.

There are lockers on the beach so take a padlock with you and use those during the day.

In Santa Marta there was an American guy pretending that he{d been robbed to get money from other backpackers, so be careful of him! Reply to this