Paradisiac beaches, majestic coastlines, dazzling forests bustling with howler monkeys and birds of every imaginable shade. What is now a staple item on every tourist’s itinerary, is burdened by a dark past that is still haunting its shadowed hills. Tayrona National Park is one of the most biodiverse areas in Colombia, becoming a UNESCO declared Biosphere Reserve in 1982. Yet, from the 1970s until the early 2000s, the area was controlled by the AUC paramilitaries, and although this occupation is over, guests entering the park through the wilder paths might still be encounter guerrilla groups operating in the shadows of this pristine ecosystem.
What was once the ancestral home to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta’s Kankuamo, Arhuaco, Kogui and Wiwa peoples, now has few indigenous dwellers left. Pillaged and occupied by illegal armed groups, among them ex-FARC, the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla and United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitaries, a territory that encompasses three departments (Cesar, Atlántico and Guajira) remains one of difficult access to outsiders, given on-going counter-narcotics operations and a resurgence during the Petro Presidency of FARC dissidents and other illegal armed groups.
With the signing of the 2016 Final Accord with ex-FARC, and given an onslaught of beaches and new eco-resorts, Colombia’s Ministry of Tourism embarked on an aggressive campaign to lure tourists to Tayrona. Despite national and international promotion, visitors, however, were still discouraged from venturing to magnificent archaeological sites of the pre-Columbian Tairona, such as such as Pueblito and high-altitude Lost City.
An essential item of the Colombia backpacking agenda, the area surrounding the Tairona peoples’ immense ceremonial complex still has its share of coca cultivation and clandestine. Even while sticking to well-trodden paths, there’s an urgency to create safety and accessibility for tourists in this jungle paradise. As a major attraction to the world, PNN Tayrona welcomed almost half a million visitors in the years leading to the COVID pandemic.
Like so much of the country, the delicate situation in the Sierra have merely been forced underground, to make space for an international perception of safety. Even though the national government claims it has a firm control of the area, guerrilla groups are still operating within the park. And foreigners looking for a wilder, more charming way of getting to the world renown Caribbean beaches, have reported incidents of being followed along paths that lead from Taganga to Bahia Concha by armed criminals.
Given the sheer size of Tayrona, there are multiple trails leading within its tropical flora, through the mountains and down into the many bays. The grandiosity of its 15,000 hectares entails that it is an unsurmountable endeavour to patrol and protect all explorable areas. Security is assured if one were to enter the park through the main entrances, and use designated transport.
However, the more exterior part of the luscious park is home to untouched wildlife, deserted beaches, and is without a doubt, the most impressive part of the park. It hosts a variety of hiking trails, marked by flags and promoted about local tourism operators. The bandits are not violent on approaching foreigners, but they have been reported to rob hikers if they alone or in small groups. Those arriving from the side of Taganga are received with great hostility, searched, robbed, and often told to find a boat and leave the park as soon as they find someone who can transport them away.
The threatening atmosphere perpetrated by thugs is a major threat to Colombia’s tourism portfolio if unchallenged in the short term, due to the destination’s popularity with adventurous hikers. The national police near Tayrona park is well aware of the security threat, but are powerless to disuade foreigners from enjoying the outback. As it is unlikely that these shadowy groups will be confronted by the authorities in the near future, as Colombia’s tourism levels escalate, crime in one of Colombia’s most breathtaking landscapes is a serious problem that can no longer remain unaddressed.
