Cano Cristales is a Colombian river located in
the Serrania de la Macarena province of Meta. The river is commonly
called "The River of Five Colors" or "The Liquid Rainbow" and is even
referred to as the most beautiful river in the world due to its striking
colors. Cano Cristales is a stunning small
river flowing through the Sierra de la Macarena in Columbia’s province of Meta,
dons a stunning array of colors. By attracting Colombian tourists, this exceptional
phenomenon & an endemic aquatic plant stretches life and colors. The populations
of this area are controlled by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces and
coca production. “El rio mas bonito del Mundo”, the most beautiful river of the
world, the “River of five colors”, the “Rainbow River”, or even the “Escaped
from Paradise”, are the sparkly appellations that Colombians give to Cano
Cristales, a small stream situated in the heart of the Macarena National Park,
150 km south of Bogota.
During the greater part of the
year, Cano Cristales is a small stream jumping down and swirling in lovely
giant rocky pots, fast flooding and draining typical of these tropical regions.
The river flows normally decrease in the end of the rainy season. This is the time
that the river is transformed to a festival of colors. From the end of July,
while the level of water finally drops, Macarena clavigera, an endemic aquatic
plant in the Macarena Sierra, finds the perfect conditions for its survival in
the river. Firmly hanging on the dark rocks, it deploys a thick pink fuchsia
hair, along amber and strongly mineralized stream with yellow sand, between
green reflections of trees and the sky's azure touches.
The Sierra de la Macarena
National Park was formed in 1971 to keep this vital biological and geological
region. But this biogeographical crossroads, where plant and animal species of
the plateau of the Guianas, Amazonia and Orinoco basin concentrate, was then
closed for several years during the occupation of the region by the Colombia
Revolutionary Armed Forces. The park security has increased from last four to
five years, which attracts more than Colombian visitor per year.
The fresh tourist thriving in
this naturally isolated area, formerly controlled by the FARCS for 40 years and
where the guerrillas raged, is welcomed. Between the eco-guides, pirogues
drivers and derived jobs, Cano Cristales and its colors support approximately
300 families that once depended on farming and coca to live. The national park usually
closes its doors in November in order to preserve the Macarena clavigera
reproduction that will dons a dazzling array of colors next July to the river will
recognized as the “Escaped from Paradise”.
