When I first came to Bogotá, I had the pleasure of being introduced to Germain García Durán, who was to take me and some friends on a tour of the outskirts of Bogotá, skirting villages such as Chia and navigating the winding roads in the surrounding mountains. The views were spectacular. The forests that climbed up into the mountains were a vibrant, flourishing green; the mountains themselves were rugged and decorated with clouds; the river meandered through the landscape beautifully while lakes circled our drive, stretching out for miles. There was even, at one point, a large waterfall with an old, beautiful hotel overlooking it and the plunge pool it had created. We stopped for a moment at the legendary Tequendama waterfall.
It all sounds so idyllic and, yet, it was almost unbearable being there. The smell of the river that flowed around us was awful – a clinging sulphur smell that was relentlessly refreshing itself, not allowing any of us to get used to it.
This is the nature of the Bogotá River, one of the most polluted in the world.
It’s World Water Day 2012, and so to us it seems the perfect time to talk about this problem that plagues Bogotá and robs it of a potentially spectacular viewpoint. As it is, the waterfall we were looking is sometimes barely a waterfall; its source had been limited by the production of energy in a nearby factory and so it trickles down pathetically. The river is barely a river; it sludges along, thick with pollution and so black it’s almost perfectly reflective when the sun shone on it. The hotel that should have been one of Bogotá’s most stunning landmarks is abandoned, left neglected and rotting. This should be one of Bogotá’s most attractive spots, but a lack of respect for the environment and undoubtedly a certain amount of greed had transformed it into an eyesore.
The entire river is in terrible condition and needs some serious help. Tourism could be increased to some points of the river, such as the waterfall, but the real tragedy is that the lives of some of the most vulnerable communities here in Bogotá are at risk because they depend upon the river for their livelihood. They depend upon a river that can barely move due to the dense sludge of pollution. Something needs to be done, and Fundacion Rio Urbano are trying to make that change.
This is all thanks to our See Colombia Travel customers, who book with us and therefore donate a percentage of the cost of their trip to Fundacion Rio Urbano. With this money we hope, in our own way, to help this river and the people and wildlife that live near it.
