Macarenia Clavigera. It’s a plant that only grows in one part of the world, in the savannah plains at the heart of Meta, which itself is nestled in the middle of Colombia. When I arrived in La Macarena I asked Diego, who shuttled me around town on his motorbike what livelihood the town had to offer the people. He told me tourism and the mafia. We whizzed through a street with a coca plant inside the 5 by 5 blocks that make up the small, dusty town. Later we would taste the leaf and he would tell me that it has a sweet taste so this was not the bitter, industrialized version that is grown “commercially” in the surrounding jungle, just 30km away. Everywhere you go, there is a large military presence; since 2004 when the army arrived in the area (for the second time) hundreds of soldiers have been killed . With the shifting history of power and control of the narcotic production in the surrounding countryside, they are needed now as much as ever. The traditional power structure and fight was clearer a few years ago. The last pitch battle with the FARC, according to one solider that arrived 14 years ago, was in early 2017. Now there is a potpourri of new pretenders, consisting of ex FARC soldiers and others looking to take the cocaine business forward. The remoteness of the area, with only basic roads to travel to the nearest cities makes it a sensible place to carry out illicit activities, but equally the Pacific coast offers similar geographical seclusion with the bonus of being close to the sea where you can more easily ship the cocaine to its final destinations. A farmer who manages a heard of cows told me that when he has to sell his animals he walks for 15 days to Villavicencio, the center in Colombia of the bovine market; you can only imagine the logistical challenges of shifting packets of illegal merchandise on a similar route and then you are still hundreds of miles from the coast with more police and army checkpoints to pass to get to the boats of Buenaventura.
Around 4 to 5 years ago with the increased army presence on the ground, coupled with heightened activation around the peace process, the tourists started to return to the region after a break of 20 to 30 years. Very little tourism existed before that, not just because of the remoteness of the area but because it wasn’t much before then that the plant life in the river was discovered and documented by scientists. The plant is named after the town of Macarena (itself only 64 check years old) coupled with the Latin word clavigera, meaning club (to beat someone with) or key bearer; this makes no literal sense at all. However the park guides tell a different story as even though clava as a noun in Spanish also means club, clavar as a verb means to nail or hammer, which makes more sense as the plants are connected or nailed to the rocks from which they get their lifeblood. The mineral rich sedimentary rocks of the riverbed contain iron, aluminum and other minerals, which the plant draws out through its roots. Combined with photosynthesis it creates a very deep red colored plant that bristles in the currents of the river; the more light the plant receives the deeper the red; the plants that dwell in the shade of the trees are quite pasty in comparison. Evolution is in its finest hour here, with the exact ingredients required to create life, something so unique that it doesn’t exist anywhere else; attempts so far to cultivate the same plant in other climatic and geographical conditions have failed. It is like a recipe, it needs just the right amount of movement in the river, the exact amount of minerals in the rocks and the mix of rain and sunlight to thrive. When the rains dry up a little, normally in November, then so does the plant. Once the rains stop the plant flowers and then retreats for another year, waiting until June to bloom again.
The principal place to see the local attraction is in the river complex of Caño Cristales. Here the crystal clean waters are a beautiful site in themselves. From the town of La Macarena you take a boat a few minutes down the river to an unmade road. From there you can cycle or take a car to the entrance of the river complex and start to hike around the different crystal clear, narrow rivulets that branch off like a pianists fingers throughout the flattish planes. Small waterfalls with red carpets of color drape over the precipices to create the perfect photographs for the tourists, but in reality many parts of the river in the area are flooded with a palette of crimson shades. There is another plant, a distant cousin to the red protagonist, which is a green, weed like plant that grows with lesser intensity. It is not really highlighted by the guides and with a quick search of Google nothing is really mentioned about it there either. The richness of colour from the red and green plants that dominate the river bed are completed by other factors, not quite creating a rainbow as advertised by the tourist board but it is a site to behold. The rich minerals of the rock have been broken down into small yellow and white pebbles. Other existing sedimentary slabs still hold a dark brown or black colour; there are also many references to something blue, but I did not witness anything of that color in the water, perhaps references in wikipedia are referring to the sky. The incessant flow of temperate water has grinded out deep and shallow holes which create the perfect canvas for the red, pink, white, yellow, brown and black painting that nature has crafted with its oils. Oil of course also being in great abundance, it is literally screaming at man to come and extract it; the hydrocarbons can be seen not only in the river but cracking up through much of the earthy surface. So far the government have held off from allowing permits to drill here as it would surely kill off everything that is unique about this corner of the world.
The surrounding countryside plays host to other tourist plans for those that want to extend their time in the area beyond a day drip to Caño Cristales. The substantial Guayabero river is one of Colombians many arteries which runs far and wide around several different regions of the country. Along the river banks many different species of birds make their living, as well as monkeys such as the spider, titi and howler. Just outside the town of La Macarena you can hike up for a few kilometers and survey the vast plains below. It is very much out of Africa, the vast savannah grasses run for as far as the eye can see, but they do not provide the habitat for any large mammals, you will not see any lions, tigers or bears. The reason is man. There were tigrillos, ocelots in English but with the arrival of the army for the first time in the 60s they systemically hunted the large cats as well as their cousins the jaguar and the lynx; the bespectacled bears were also driven away. Their cat skins were a valuable prize and the social conscience in that bygone era was at a minimum. You can still find the odd snake, we saw a black mamba as well as deep brownish colored one locally called the casadora or hunter (Phrynonax poecilonotus for any snakeophiles out there). Of course I found out later that we didn’t see a real black mamba at all, it was only the guide being over cautious as we passed a baby black serpent wriggling in the sand. The mamba negra is only found in Africa, however whatever it was it could well have been dangerous as around 200 people in the area die from snakebites every year. I asked about antidotes to the venom and they are not stocked in the local area despite the prevalance of the dangerous beasts. The short tourist video you are forced to watch before you enter the parkland area does recommend a closed shoe and long trousers, which even for the briefest of visits are a good precaution to take with the lack of medical resources close at hand.
On leaving I was left to wonder just how sustainable the tourism is in the area. I doubt Exxon will be moving in soon, but the violence is still prevalent on the fringes of society. One evening Diego told me a few minutes before he picked me up to play pool that he had just seen one guy hacking into another with a machete. The argument was over the lack of legal papers for a small truck he had bought, there was a clash of blades, the seller of the vehicle eventually losing control of his weapon allowing the buyer of the truck to have a few clear swipes at his chest and arms. Later that night, the impounded vehicle sitting outside the police station was sized up by a few ex FARC personnel who are now running the show. Diego’s father was part of the gangs of the eighties and nineties as well his uncle who lost his fingers for a transgression of the rules. It’s not a miracle that Diego is involved in tourism that offers a different path to his dad and uncle, but it is only sustainable with a massive military presence in the area. In the whole of Colombia I have not seen an advertised tourist area with the quantity of soldiers that are stationed here. If you are not woken at 4am by a rooster or the mooing of a cow, you will be disturbed by one of the helicopters that tours the city day and night. The package tourist, who make up the majority of those that come for two or three days are oblivious to what is still bubbling beneath the surface. It will require a commitment for the foreseeable future to keep the area clear and safe for those that are yet to visit. On the one hand this is good example of how Colombia has opened a small window for the tourism industry to allow forty or fifty people a day to see something unique, the biodiversity of the Colombia is only second to that of Brazil. Much of the country is still locked up, too dangerous or difficult to enter, even though many parts of Colombia are listed by UNESCO as having outstanding value to humanity. On the other hand for anyone that is a little more independently minded, in La Macarena and Caño Cristales you can see the challenge of Colombia, a battle that is far from won and how if they can begin to square the circle of the violence just how much beauty and prosperity could be unlocked in the future.
