PNN El Cocuy is CLOSED

PNN El Cocuy is a national park. It is public land! It overlaps with an indigenous reservate, which also is public land. Nothing in this park is closed. All hiking trails pass through a wilderness, moutaineous part of the park, where NOBODY lives.

This has nothing to do with people passing through private property. It is a historic and religious matter why the indigenous do not like people passing through these lands.

Compare it to some mountain summits in the world which are considered to be holy and where local people do not want humans to set foot on it.

"The real ground of the so called unofficial closure is a dispute with the U'wa tribe, which until now is still not settled. The national park has overlap with U'wa tribe reservate and some part of the circuit is holy ground to those people. They found it disrespectful that foreigners pass their holy grounds."

if this is true, it should be respected. reserves are under teh direction of the people they have been set aside for, for very good reason. they must have autonomy, and even if it looks to you and i that there are no people there, that doesn't matter. your reasoning, i'm sorry to say, is the same used by logging and mining companies who want to use rainforest--no one 'lives' there.

i would be happy to hear if anyone has different information--someone mentioned an election?

freaka--could you put in an update if you go? we don't have camping gear either, and it would be great to find out the cabanas are a good alternative.

Hi! So my boyfriend and I will be leaving for Cocuy from Tunja prob on Monday night. We werer wondering if there was anyone who would want to share a guide with us for about 3 days or so. you can get in touch with me by mail

friederikevondran@gmail.com

would be great to meet some fellow hikers!

Hey,
My boyfriend and I are planning on visiting the park (to do the acceptable day hikes) in a little less than a week....we were wondering if anyone knows whether we still have to pay park fees even though the park (or part of it?) is closed? If they are still charging, does anyone know the amounts?
Thank you!

Yes, the entry fee is COP 50 000 for foreigners, substantially less if you are a student under 25 (about 12 000). You also need rescue insurance (7000 per day) for each day you will be up in the mountains that must be purchased before the park office will issue a permit. However, you should check with the park office in El Cocuy as to which days, if any, you will need to purchase insurance for. The insurance is not available through the park office; if you go to the park office in El Cocuy from the main square you will go by the office where you can purchase the insurance. Please follow leave no trace principles as outlined in the park regulations (pack out all waste including used toilet paper and organic materials).

Thank bradtano....so they close half the park AND raise the price of entry?? We are over 25 and 50,000 pesos each is an expensive park entry fee...so much so that it may keep us from going. You are positive about this price? Have you been there very recently?

50K is expensive!
the park website says the same, plus the 7000/day insurance, but annoyingly says nothing about trails being closed.

http://www.parquesnacionales.gov.co/portal/ecoturismo/region-andina/parque-nacional-natural-cocuy/

Actuallly, under 'reccomedaciones especiales' that page does say that the circuit is closed.

Also note that the only people on the forum complaining about the price and the trail closure are those who have not yet visited the park. I visited the park for 5 days last week with two other people and couldn't be happier.

From what I can tell the PNN is removing the closed trails from official maps but this takes time--Similarly I would imagine that the description of the circuit will be removed from the next editions of the LP Colombia/SA guidebooks and others.

If you are thinking of going, I encourage you to do so!

Hi all, I know it's rather last minute, but I want to hike cocuy from the end of this week onwards. Is there anyone with roughly the same itinerary that would like to join me? I am a 24 year old Dutch female and have hiking experience in, among others, Patagonia, Machu Picchu, iguaque and multiple vulcanos in Central America although I have never hiked above 4000m. I am open for both multiday hikes or multiple one day hikes.

Please let me know if you have similar plans. You can reach me via jonikoch89@gmail.com

Thanks!

P.s. Does anybody know what the weather is like in cocuy around this time a year? Thanks!