The Tayrona National Park lies up the coast to the east of Santa Marta, where the foothills of the Sierra Nevada come down to the coast.

John and Bev of Dandelion joined us on the hike. We treated ourselves to a shared taxi as opposed to the bus as it was quite affordable and enjoyed a most pleasant drive there.

The park is know for its rich bio-diversity and attractive vegetation (the covering of which was most welcome in the heat).

The well laid out and maintained paths wind through this interesting vegetation and jumbles of eye catching rocks.

Like the other forests in the Caribbean, the root systems are fascinating.

As we neared the farthest point on the walk, we caught glimpses of the sea though the foliage …..

… and then were out onto the beaches with the sun beating down on us.

We saw plenty creepy crawlies etc.

Unfortunately, not too much evidence of larger wildlife – there were just too many people on the paths for that. We did hear and see monkeys though; you might have to screw up your eyes and zoom in on the photos to see the monkeys as I left my telephoto lens behind.

The wiser folks took a ride to the beach on the Colombian Mountain horses. They are small, hardy, sure footed and looked as though they were well looked after and in good condition.

There is no pictorial evidence, however the writer can assure you that there were several stops for re-hydration with cold Aguilla Original and Colombia Dorado beers (even Liz, known for her aversion to beer, has taken to the odd cold one to combat the heat).

We also have no pictorial evidence of our own of the local Tayrona Indians  (the ones we saw were averse to requests to photograph and we respected that) but we saw several and were impressed by their demeanour and appearance. The kids looked particularly healthy and happy.

A stock pic shows their typical attire.