May 24, 2024, 4:21 pm

A previous day trip to Parque Chicaque near Bogotá, Colombia left me craving more of its natural beauty. So, instead of just spending a few hours in the lush cloud forest to the south of Bogotá, I decided to take a short trip and spend the night in the park to enjoy its full glory.

The short trip started when my boyfriend and I climbed into the shuttle bus in Bogotá. Towering apartment buildings and congested traffic gave way to rolling mountains. The journey only took about 40 minutes.

Once we arrived, a thick haze enveloped us, as if we were on the set of a horror movie, but the atmosphere was serene and tranquil. The trail is about a 30-minute descent from Parque Chicaque’s welcome center to the lodge where we stayed the night. I would like to think we are both in relatively good shape, but after a couple of minutes down that steep path, we were both huffing and puffing. Most of the trail heading to the lodge is made of stone, so be sure to wear sturdy shoes.

Muddy but happy, we finally arrived at the lodge. Even if you don’t plan on spending the night, you should still check out the lodge, or el Refugio in Spanish. The whole structure is built on stilts and is dwarfed by a mountain on one side and towers over treetops on the other. Its high wooden ceilings and giant fireplace in the dining hall give the building a cosiness akin to an Aspen cabin.

At lunch time, the dining hall was buzzing with hungry visitors and wait staff serving up delicious traditional Colombian food and thirst-quenching juices. Our night stay included three meals, but plenty of hikers ate lunch at the lodge before heading back to Bogotá in the late afternoon.

After spending the evening on the wooden balcony that wraps around the lodge, we retired to our room. It was difficult to get a phone signal, so we spent the night reading under a mosquito net while moths tried to infiltrate the mesh barrier.

The next day started off with a yummy Colombian breakfast of hearty soup, arepas, hot chocolate, coffee and generous chunks of cheese. Parque Chicaque has seven trails, so finding more paths to explore after breakfast wasn’t a problem. We also got a bird’s-eye-view of the tree tops thanks to an Adrenaline-inducing zip-line.

When it was time to leave the park and head back to Bogotá, we rode horses instead of hiking the steep trail back up to the welcome centre. The horses were a bit rambunctious, but we arrived in one piece.

Chicaque Park is a great place to spend a day hiking, birding, or even staying there.

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