Los Nevados National Natural Park, National park in central Andes, Colombia
Los Nevados National Natural Park sits in the central highlands of Colombia, stretching across four departments with snow-covered volcanoes, glaciers, and high valleys reaching up to 5,300 meters in elevation. The landscape shifts between bare rock formations, wide grasslands, and areas with sparse vegetation in the thin air of altitude.
Los Nevados was declared a National Natural Park on 30 April 1974, initially covering 38,000 hectares; later cartographic and boundary revisions enlarged it by two thirds to more than 60,000 hectares. At the start of the 20th century six peaks carried glaciers reaching down to 4,000–4,500 m; the glaciers of Quindío, El Cisne and Santa Rosa had melted completely by the 1960s. In 2020 the Supreme Court of Justice recognised the park as a subject of rights under ruling STL10716.
The name Los Nevados refers to the snow-capped summits of Ruiz, Tolima, Santa Isabel, El Cisne, Quindío and Santa Rosa. Above 3,000 m the land shows glacial erosion: U-shaped valleys and moraines now covered by páramo vegetation. Local communities still grow potatoes and graze livestock in traditional-use zones such as the El Bosque vereda in Quindío.
Visitors need a permit and warm clothing, as temperatures can drop below freezing even during the day. The entrances close in the early afternoon, leaving enough time for the return journey.
Nevado del Ruiz is one of the few active volcanoes in the world that still carry glaciers, even though the ice mass has declined sharply in recent decades. The meltwater from these peaks supplies drinking water to more than two million people in the lower regions.
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