Hacienda Napoles

The estate passed to the state after a long court fight that was over by 2006, and after years of dereliction the grounds were rented to a private company that runs them as a theme park with pools, a safari area and an African-style animal collection. The consequential legacy is biological: four hippopotamuses imported for a private zoo were left when the property was abandoned, escaped into the Magdalena river system, and bred without predators or a dry season to limit them - the population has grown into the low hundreds and is spreading downriver, making it the only established hippopotamus population outside Africa. They damage waterways, displace manatees and capybaras, and have injured people; sterilisation and culling have both been attempted and both are contested. The park itself now presents the estate's history critically rather than as spectacle.

History

Pablo Escobar built the estate near Doradal, with a Spanish colonial house, a sculpture park, a private airport and a zoo of animals from other continents, among them antelope, giraffes, elephants and four hippopotamuses, and set a replica of a Piper Super Cub over its entrance gate. After his death in 1993 his family fought the state in court over the property; by November 2006 it belonged to the state, the municipality of Puerto Triunfo managed it, and most of the animals went to other zoos, and by 2014 a private company ran an African theme park on the rented grounds. The hippos, too hard to move, stayed on the untended estate, numbered 16 by 2007 and spread into the Magdalena (Wikipedia, Hacienda Nápoles).

Highlights

• A safari and water park - built on the confiscated estate.
• The hippo problem - the only wild population outside Africa, in the low hundreds.
• Animals spreading downriver - damaging the Magdalena ecosystem.
• A site presented critically - rather than as a celebration.

When to go

Year round; weekends are busiest. A full day.

Things to know

Wild hippos in the surrounding river system are genuinely dangerous and are not part of the park. It is hot and humid year round. The park is commercial and aimed at families. The estate's history draws a particular kind of visitor the park has worked to discourage.

Nearby

Doradal is at the highway; the Magdalena river is east.

Key facts