The Colombian Amazon: Visit an indian community in the Colombian Amazon

Visit an indian community in the Colombian Amazon

It’s easier to visit an authentic indigenous community in Colombia, perhaps, than in any of the neighbouring Amazonian countries. Public riverboats sail thrice daily upriver from the principal port Leticia, calling in at riverside settlements on demand to collect and disembark schoolchildren, fishermen, and inhabitants travelling to and fro on business.

The way of life in these villages has not changed much over the centuries: they live by fishing and agriculture and now also by sales of craft work such as polished wood carvings. Many of the wooden, stilted houses have no furniture except for hammocks, a few cooking pots and - well, it is the 21^st century - satellite TV sets. Inhabitants are naturally friendly; local guides know individual families who welcome you into their homes, so you have the privilege of a real community experience.

Perhaps the most interesting community to visit is Mocagua, just a 20-minute walk from Calanoa Lodge, where the stilt-supported, brightly painted houses are decorated with giant murals of indigenous, exotic birds and animals, and where you can have lunch at a makeshift restaurant in the home of an enterprising local family or visit the nearby monkey orphanage.