Cueva de los Guácharos (Cave of the Oilbirds)

South America » Colombia » Huila
May 1st 2009

Published: March 19th 2010

Arrived in Palestina, now where are those 4x4s?

Parque Nacional Cueva de los Guácharos

This park is in the South of Huila and covers 9,000 hectares of mountainous rain forest. The park is full of caves and canyons. The highest point of the park is 2,800m and so the park covers all climatic zones up to páramo.

The forests namesake inhabitants are the oilbirds whose huge wingspan is 91cm. They are nocturnal birds who feed on oil palm and they can travel several hours each night to eat. During the day they live in caves clinging to small rocky ledges with their next to useless feet. The oilbird is also notable for being one of the few birds to use echolocation.

The park is well off the tourist trail and is quite difficult to reach. Visitors are rewarded though by a rich selection of wildlife and a beautifully tranquil location 50km plus from the nearest paved road. The park has basic accommodation in dorms with fire based kitchen.

Arrival

Firstly you need to get to Pitalito in Southern Huila, from there you can catch a chiva to Palestina. The best place to catch this chiva is on the turning to Palestina from the Pitalito - San

At the school

The school is high up with great views across southern Huila.

Agustin road (the exact location of departure from the centre of Pitalito is not certain). The chiva takes 50 minutes. Once in Pitalito you need to locate the 4x4 taxi rank - there are two scheduled taxis to the school you are aiming to reach but neither are at convenient times for visiting the park so you will have to hire a taxi to take you to the school drop off point. This takes 30 minutes.

From the school you continue along the road behind the school, the mountains of the park can be seen in the distance. From the school it is a 4.5 hours walk to the park administration. The walk is muddy and difficult. You follow the road for about 15 minutes before it bends heavily left and there is a muddy track heading up hill straight on. Go up the hill and from now on the way is badly signposted but possible to follow (leave yourself plenty of day light to get to the administration). After about 2 hours you have been walking steeply down hill and you reach a river and bridge - this is the entrance to the park. From here the way

The Park in the Distance

Looking towards the Caves of the Oilbird, there is still a long walk to go.

is clearly signposted and the nature gets more and more beautiful (and the path gets muddier and muddier).

From the bridge you head up hill again. There is one more (smaller) river valley to cross before reaching the administration.

Things to Do

The admission price includes a tour of the two large caves in the park. One cave is a long walk through lots of tunnels to see some uninteresting rock formations but quite a lot of strange cave dwellers including some crabs, bats and a huge spider. The second cave is where the oilbirds live and is quite spectacular for the noise levels.

There are also various trails you can follow or organise a warden to take you on. Even surrounding the accommodation there is plenty of bird life to enjoy so make sure you take your binoculars. One of the highlights for us was a huge troop of grey howler monkeys, several young males came very close to us to threaten us while the females and young escaped.

There are a lot of orchids in the park as well.

Things to Take

* a lightweight waterproof.
* good walking boots.
* plenty

Park Entrance

The bridge that leads you into the park.

of water for the walk there.
* a good head torch
* all of the food for the trip - there is NO food available in the park.
* cooking pans for the fire oven.
* warm clothes for the evening

Visit

To visit the park you need to contact the park administration. You need to get their contact details from the central office in Bogota (Cra. 10 No. 20 - 30)