Bienvenidos a la
Serranía del Perijá
Welcome to
Serranía del Perijá
Part of the Tropical Andes Hotspot, one of 35 global biodiversity hotspots
Rich in enigmatic plant and birdlife, including many species found nowhere else on Earth
A land of myths and legends, of vallenato music, beauty and strong resilient communities
The communities of Estados Unidos and La Victoria de San Isidro offer a warm welcome to our neighbouring villages nestled on the slopes of Colombia’s Eastern Andes in the Sierra de Perija. We invite you to walk with us, to learn about our resilience and strength, to soak in our spectacular mountain scenery and explore our rare and beautiful forests rich in enigmatic plant and animal life. We invite you to experience the power of our waterfalls, to soak in our thermal pools, hear our myths and legends and celebrate the rhythm of vallenato music in the land where it was born.
We invite you to taste our exquisite coffee grown in our sustainable agroforestry coffee plantations, to share with us our passion and commitment for a sustainable future and most of all to experience the warm hospitality of our community.
What makes Serranía del Perijá so special?
The Serranía de Perijá is a 200-mile-long mountain range rising to over 3,600 meters in Colombia’s Eastern Andes straddling the northern border between Colombia and Venezuela in the province of Cesar. The northernmost finger of the Andes it is an area renowned for the high level of species diversity and endemism, home to enigmatic mammals like the spectacle bear, puma and jaguar and a rich variety of birdlife. The rare, beautiful and endangered forests here also provide vitally important ecosystem services on a regional, national and global level as a vitally important watershed and carbon sink.
Spanning a huge diversity of ecosystems from high Andean paramo to cloud forests, subtropical humid forests to tropical dry forests the region has a unique geological history and climate variability which has helped create exceptional biodiversity and a high level of endemism with studies estimating 10% of the plant life in the region is found nowhere else on earth.
The forests here are of extremely high importance as a watershed for the province of Cesar and the Caribbean region of Colombia. With countless springs its water sources feed numerous rivers including the Tucuy Casacara, Cesar, Maraccas and Calenturitas and many more which ultimately then feed into the Cienega de Zapatosa, the largest body of fresh water in Colombia
Serrania del Perija is one of the least explored areas in Colombia and is expected to yield many new species in the coming years. The mountains here are also home to some of the most threatened biomes on Earth most notably Tropical Dry Forest and Montane Rain Forest.