Skip to main content

When most people think of ecotourism in the tropics Costa Rica usually comes to mind but Colombia has levels of biodiversity that completely blows its northern neighbour away.

Colombia is the second most biodiverse country in the world. Only Brazil offers more biodiversity but it is 7 times the size of Colombia so a visit to Colombia will likely expose you to more biodiversity than anywhere else in the world.

With two coastlines along the Caribbean Coast and the Pacific Ocean, the highest coastal mountains in the world, a fascinating slice of the Amazon rainforests, páramos highland surrounding its major cities of Bogota and Medellin, and the most species of birds of any country of Earth — Colombia is a nature lover’s paradise.

If you are considering a trip to Colombia, here are some nature documentaries about Colombia’s unique biodiversity and the emerging ecotourism industry in the country.

1. Colombia’s Wild Magic

Colombia Magia Salvaje (translatable into English as Colombia’s Wild Magic) is a Colombian documentary film released in 2015. The documentary film is a sample of the biodiversity of Colombia, recorded in 85 different locations to achieve the portrait of 20 ecosystems. The film is in Spanish but you can easily add subtitles (which can help you improve your Spanish to visit the country!).


2. The Birders: A Melodic Journey Through Northern Colombia

The Birders, a documentary film on Colombian bird biodiversity that highlights Colombian local birdwatching guide, Diego Calderon-Franco and National Geographic photographer/videographer Keith Ladzinski as they travel through one of the most diverse bird regions in the world to capture new and rare birds that have never been filmed before.

3. Destination Wild Colombia: Chiribiquete

There’s a lost world buried in the Colombian Amazon. Biologist Bianca Huertas and photographer Francisco Forero experience incredible highs and a few lows as they explore regions hidden within Colombia’s Amazon visiting prehistoric towers, waterfalls and deep canyons surrounded by rivers, lakes and rainforests bursting with life.

Kyle Pearce

Leave a Reply