Exploring Tatacoa Desert Of Colombia

by: Aditya E.S. Wicaksono Jakarta, Feb 22 (Antara) - Traveling in the desert might be the last option for having a vacation. However, contrary to popular belief, the Tatacoa Desert in Colombia becomes lively and busy with tourists on the weekend and holidays as it has turned into a major tourist attraction in the South American country. The Tatacoa Desert basically is the second largest arid zone in Colombia, after the Guajira Peninsula at the north. In that case, what has enchanted people to come to this Colombian desert? Exotic desert landscape Earlier in November, a downpour was soaking the semiarid region of Tatacoa Desert, which is located at the southern Colombia's Department of Huila. During the rain that day, Carlos Augusto Amaya Olaya, a local resident, was kindly helping to find a lodging in Villavieja, a small town about one hour drive from Huila's capital city of Neiva, or around six hours drive from the Capital City Bogota. Villavieja, which literary translates "old village" in Spanish, is the nearest town to the Tatacoa Desert. Local people of Villavieja has been benefited from the visiting tourists who desire for traveling in the desert. Some locals work as tour guides and provide motor taxi services like Augusto. The other run hostels, restaurants or souvenir shops in town. Hostel rooms and local foods are offered in reasonable price. The villagers are considerably friendly and have been accustomed by foreigners. By noon, the rain stopped. Augusto had his trail motorbike ready to explore the enticing desert landscape of Tatacoa. Crossing the Colombia's principal river, Magdalena, the view of leafy vegetation slowly disappeared and replaced by giant cactus as Augusto¿s trail bike was leaving the town. Several horses and cattle were seen roaming freely and grazing at the pasture. After some 15 minutes ride, the paved road ended at El Cusco, the first stop at Tatacoa Desert. "I leave you here to explore the place. You'd better to put on boots as the ground will be muddy after the rain last night," Augusto said. Tatacoa Desert has two distinctive colors: reddish brown in the El Cusco and grey in Los Hojos. The ocher earth of Tatacoa Desert contrasts with the blue Colombian sky in El Cusco. Natural forces have formed Tatacoa into an unfamiliar yet astonishing landscape. Violent floods, wind and heat had sculpted the Tatacoa land into a series of distinguished pleated-like canyons while the trace of flowing water meanders at the valley below. The dry orange crinkled landscape juts in every direction while its soil cracks under the baking sun. This very eroded zone and extraordinary desert area extends to around 330 square kilometer at the north of Neiva. This exotic view of El Cusco has lured many tourists to come to the Tatacoa Desert. Life is harsh at the desert. Above the eroded ground of Tatacoa live families of cactus, thorny shrubs, and other xerophytic plants that have adapted to survive in the environment with little liquid water. The desert also becomes homes for several species of spider, lizard, smaller and larger birds, and snake. In fact, the name Tatacoa refers to the name of an endemic rattlesnake which lives the desert. Local legend says that if someone cuts and keep the tail of the rattlesnake, the snake would find its way to locate its missing tail. Several villagers also live on the desert area by raising cattle or goats and providing lodges or camping grounds for visiting tourists who want to spend the night at the desert. Meanwhile, below the ground, some fossils of prehistoric animals such as crocodile, elephant, giant turtle or glyptodon, and megatherium or ground sloth had been found by the archaeologists. Those fossils, dated to be millions years old, are kept in a paleontology museum at the central quad of Villavieja. Scientists believed that in the past, Tatacoa was fertile yet lush with trees and flowers and inhabited by giants animals. However, the zone little by little had turned into a drier ecosystem nowadays. The geographical location of Tatacoa Desert has made the region not only rich in geological finding but also spectacular views for astronomical observation that an observatory was built at El Cusco for star gazing and observation. The night sky of Tatacoa Desert is free from excessive and obtrusive artificial light from urban zones that dramatically reduces the visibility of stars. Therefore, The Tatacoa Desert has become a delight for astronomers and stargazers. Every night, starting at 7 pm, the observatory invites the visiting tourists into a small workshop and stars observation which is guided by a local astronomer. ¿It seems almost impossible to see a starry night in big cities due to light pollution,¿ said Carlos Cachope, who came along way from Bogota to the Tatacoa Desert. After stargazing at the observatory, Carlos chose to spend the night camping below the starry night at the desert. The Forgotten Land The next day, Augusto took me for an adventure to the grey part of the desert in Los Hoyos, located further than El Cusco deeper in the desert. There is no visible gap separating the two different colors of the desert ground. After some 40 minutes ride on a dirt track, Augusto stopped and parked his trail motorbike at a shack. "We go on foot from this point," he said. Augusto led the trip downhill into a place where he called ¿La Valle de las Fantasmas¿ or the Valley of the Ghosts. It gives an eerie feeling to hear the valley¿s name. However, be afraid not. The valley deserves such name due to the form of its eroded hill which resemble to a group of ghosts on white cloak A natural art work which is formed by erosion and styled by wind and water. The grey part of Tatacoa Desert is of great extent that awaits passionate travelers to discover more secret it contains. The land of Tatacoa Desert was once forgotten, Augusto said, ¿Nobody wanted to live in the desert.¿. However, a woman named Rosalina Martinez de Clevez, born around 103 years ago, was the one to put the first foundation of tourism activity in the Tatacoa Desert. "She had lived all her life in the desert," Augusto recalled. Rosalina grew falling in love with the desert land. Her respect and admiration to the beauty and secret of the Tatacoa land was translated into stories that had lured visitors to come to the forgotten land. She had lived with 13 children, of which 12 are still living in the desert. They still preserve Rosalina¿s rocking chair and other belongings in her house which still hosts visiting tourists. Nowadays, children and local people of Villavieja are telling the story of Rosalina's strength as a Villaviejan woman who had inspired their life and honor her as the Queen of the Desert.