Santa Marta

Gator says on May 23, 2004, 06:42:

Yes and No Santa Marta itself is safe but I would not be wandering about outside the city. About eight months ago had three "nature lovers, from four Israel, two British subjects, a German and a Spaniard, spent some time as guests of ELN. Too bad because this area is suposed to be excellent for birdwatching.

If you confine your bus travel to daylight hours I would consider it safe. Trip is not bad and the road is good. About 220 km. say 4/5 hours and should cost about $13/14 thousand pesos.

A la orden,

Gator

"Credidi pretio parvo emere et magno vendere tibi in animo fuisse!" .

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ColombiaBoard says on May 23, 2004, 09:22:

Santa Marta You can go to Parque Tayrona which is the beach side of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta but I recommend that you don´t go into the Park, unfortunately the safety situation in that area is not good.
You can travel by bus between Santa Marta and Cartagena, no problem with that, I suggest that you go early in the morning to the bus station and take a good bus (a bit more expensive but with W/C and air conditining), besides you can admire the beautiful landscape.
I see that you´re going also to Bogota, take a plane, don´t go by bus, it´s an extremely long journey.

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arturo says on May 25, 2004, 04:46:

for what i have understood, santa marta aerea is maily under para control(there's some fishing village used as drug exit port).

Anyway, if you plane to travel in the countryside you need very precise information & you wont get them on this board but when in santa marta.

i suggest you to sleep in Hotel del Norte(an unexpensive & clean hotel close to the Ley supermercado & close to the playa too), there's a very fat friendly girls whose running it(nancy) & she has lot of friends who will give you first hand security info about the region.

have fun

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Erik says on May 26, 2004, 09:03:

Santa Marta In February I was in Santa Marta for about 2 weeks. I spend some time in Tayrona, Taganga and Ciudad Perdida (in Sierra Nevada de SM) and I was interested in a tour to the nevadas in the mountain range.
Tayrona, Taganga and Ciudad Perdida are perfectly safe and Ciudad perdida and tayrona are great for nature lovers and you can see some nice birds in Tayrona.
I didn't go trekking in the sierra Nevada de SM because of the security. There are many guerrillas in the parc because of the coca fields and the indians who still live in the area don't like foreigners on their land.
I did a bit of investigations and as far as I know is Turcol (located in SM) the only organization that overs a tour in Sierra Nevada de SM and it's a 12 day tour with high costs. This would be the only safe option to go.
Why don't you go to PN Los Nevados, where there are beautiful places to visit with lots of special birds and nature.
I will be going back to Colombia soon to offer some tours to foreigenrs and I have a lot more info if you need it.
Have fun,
Erik

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paulvanels says on May 27, 2004, 09:14:

Gracias por los comentarios to everyone, they are very useful!!

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