2. Description area
The foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta,
the highest coastal mountain in the world, sink into
the sea like the fingers of a giant hand including
bays and inlets of singular beauty are formed:
Chengue, Gayraca, Cinto, Neguanje, Concha,
Guachaquita, with its white sand beaches
bounded by rocky atolls, mangroves, thickets or
forests, all bathed by the crystal blue waters of the
Caribbean Sea, are among the many attractions
of the Tayrona National Park.
3. Get directions
A 34 miles from Santa Marta, on the
Caribbean trunk road and route to Riohacha,
is the Zaíno, the main park entrance. On the
Zaíno can reach Canaveral, Reef, Cabo de
San Juan de Guía and Pueblito.
A 12 miles from Santa Marta is the income
from the sector Basin, leading to Enguante,
Gay raca and Playa Cristal.
5. Activities
For those looking for contemplation and relaxation, the
Tayrona offers magnificent beaches and relaxing
landscape of deep blue seas. Those who are attracted
most exciting and varied activities will enjoy hiking,
swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving. The ideal
places for ecotourism and diving are the bays of
Concha, Bonito Gordo, Gayraca, Neguanje, Crystal
Beach, Canaveral, Reef, Spire Island and Garnet.
The Tayrona park also has archaeological remains of
an ancient city Tayrona: Chairama (Pueblito).
6. Ecosystem
Among terrestrial ecosystems in this small area
that makes up the park, are the thorn scrub and
dry, wet and cloudy forests. The dry forest
protected area is one of the best preserved of the
country, so it becomes a genebank in situ that
can be used for recovery of this ecosystem in
other areas of the Colombian Caribbean.
Among coastal marine ecosystems coral
formations, sea grass beds, beaches, rocky
coastline, mangroves, seagrass beds, sandy
bottoms and gaps and madreviejas counted.
8. Communities
The four indigenous ethnic groups that currently inhabit
have raised the existence of an ancestral territory
demarcated by a boundary that encloses the
geographical resort of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
including coastal and lake areas outside indigenous
reserves. This means that, despite not being an area
for shelter, and having no members of the indigenous
community inhabiting the Tayrona National Park, this
makes constitutive this ancestral territory, and in it are
the points of Black Line and sacred sites to be
protected and respected as part of the cultural heritage
of humanity.