Caño Cristales, River in La Macarena, Colombia
The river stretches across the Serrania de la Macarena National Park, displaying red, yellow, green, blue, and black colors due to aquatic plants.
During the 1980s and 1990s, the region remained largely unexplored by tourists due to security concerns related to local conflicts.
Local indigenous communities maintain traditional practices of environmental protection, teaching visitors about sustainable interactions with nature through guided tours.
Visitors need to arrange guided tours between July and November, when water conditions allow the Macarenia clavigera plants to display their colors.
The river prohibits conventional sunscreen and insect repellent as these products could harm the delicate Macarenia clavigera plants responsible for the colors.
Location: La Macarena
Elevation above the sea: 462 m
Address: Caño Cristales, La Macarena, Meta, Colombia 505027
GPS coordinates: 2.26417,-73.79439
Latest update: November 3, 2025 08:46
From moving stones in the desert to caves illuminated by glowworms, these places showcase natural phenomena and geological formations. The locations include pink lakes, underground caverns, mysterious stone circles, and volcanic features. These natural sites present unusual colors, shapes, and scientific phenomena across all continents
This collection brings together locations that challenge the norms of conventional tourism. It offers the chance to discover places where nature, history, and human activities have created astonishing sites: a complex of 732 unfinished villas in Turkey, a Mexican island where hundreds of dolls are hung in trees, a Canadian lake with mineral-formed multicolored basins, and a Polish forest of 400 pines with mysteriously bent trunks facing north. The route also includes unique human-made creations, such as an art installation representing an isolated Prada store in the Texas desert, or the Japanese village of Nagoro where an artist populated the streets with 350 dolls after the residents left. Geological phenomena are also featured, including Darvaza crater in Turkmenistan, which has been burning continuously since 1971, the Great Blue Hole in Belize, a 124-meter-deep underwater cavity, and Colombia’s Caño Cristales river that changes color to red, yellow, and green from July to November. These destinations provide a different perspective on our planet and invite exploration of lesser-known facets of our world.
Colombia offers mountains, deserts, waterfalls and colonial towns. These destinations show the natural contrasts from Caribbean to Andes, from Ciudad Perdida to Tatacoa Desert, from thermal springs to coral reefs.
This selection presents geological formations, architectural structures, and natural phenomena that distinguish themselves by their exceptional characteristics. From luminescent caves in New Zealand to a burning gas crater in Turkmenistan, these sites demonstrate the diversity of Earth's geological and human-made features. The locations include colored rivers, limestone formations, volcanic features, and architectural anomalies.
Serranía de la Macarena
6.8 km
Chiribiquete's rock shelters
155.2 km
Cordillera de los Picachos National Natural Park
110.4 km
Tinigua National Natural Park
48.2 km
Jardín Botánico de La Macarena
9.1 km
Sierra de la Macarena National Nature Park
65.1 km
Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Granada, Meta
142.5 km
Caño Cristalitos
4.9 km
Los pozos naturales
129.7 km
Transbordo
6.8 km
Cuiudad de Piedra
123.2 km
Puerta de Orion
124 km
Reserva Túneles Naturales
125.9 km
Puente Amarillo
111.3 km
Puentes Naturales
124 km
El Rincon Paisa
149.5 km
Cachiveras del diablo
105.3 km
Raudal Angostura I
9.8 km
Pinturas Rupestres Nuevo Tolima
117.9 km
Rafting
125.7 km
Cascada Natural Del Caño Guejar
140.5 km
Transbordador
6.8 km
Mirador La Canasta
143 km
Plaza de toros
127.6 km
Cerro Azul
107.3 km
Work of art
132.9 km
Statue, Work of art
132.6 kmReviews
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