Puracé National Park

Puracé lies in the Colombian Massif, where the Central and Eastern ranges of the Andes begin, and four of the country's main rivers, the Magdalena, the Cauca, the Caquetá and the Patía, rise within the park, which covers about 830 km² of Cauca and Huila. It is part of the Andean Belt biosphere reserve declared by UNESCO in 1979, with cold humid forest, páramo, superpáramo and snow, 30 lagoons and many sulphur springs. At its centre stands the Puracé volcano, 4,646 m (15,243 ft) high and one of the most active in Colombia, a truncated cone with concentric craters 500 and 900 m (1,640 and 2,953 ft) across; after its last eruption of the 20th century, in 1977, it erupted again on 19 January 2025. Created in 1961 as the first national park in Cauca, the park has more than 200 kinds of orchid, over 160 bird species and mammals such as the spectacled bear, the mountain tapir and the pudú, and the Andean condor was reintroduced here in the 1990s with help from the San Diego Zoo.

Background

Puracé National Natural Park, Parque Nacional Natural Puracé in Spanish, covers 830 km² of the Andes in Colombia's Cordillera Central, south-east of Popayán. Created in 1961, it was the first national park in the Cauca Department. At its heart stands Puracé, an active stratovolcano and one of the most active in the country, and four of Colombia's main rivers, the Magdalena, the Cauca, the Japurá and the Patía, rise within its bounds. The park is home to more than 200 kinds of orchid and over 160 bird species, and the Andean condor was brought back here in the 1990s with help from the San Diego Zoo.

Source: Wikipedia, "Puracé National Natural Park"

What you'll find

• Termales de San Juan - the thermal spring with the largest flow of those recorded around the volcano, about 403 litres a second from a wide field of springs, with tanagers and hummingbirds in the woods around it.
• Andean condors - in good weather they can be seen from the trail up the volcano, along with the Nevado del Huila and the Sotará volcano.
• The Valle de las Estatuarias - more than 10 hectares of volcanic rocks up to 2 m (6.6 ft) high, shaped by eruptions, wind, sun and rain into figures that recall animals, seen on the climb.
• The Puracé volcano - a climb of about 3½ hours from Pilimbalá, or 1½ to 2 hours from the old police base at 4,000 m (13,123 ft), with one guide for every five walkers at most.

When to go

January and February. Trips to the volcano are busiest from December to March, and January and February are recommended for the weather. Daytime highs reach 14-16 °C and nights fall below freezing; about 2,500 mm of rain falls a year, less higher up, and frost is frequent above 3,000 m (9,843 ft) and almost daily above 4,200 m (13,780 ft). One to two days.

Things to know

In the Pilimbalá sector the park serves as a reserve of the Coconuco people, whose community offers lodging and local food there, and there is a Guambiano settlement as well. Fifteen thermal springs and a warm lagoon have been recorded on the volcano and around the Coconucos range, the hottest being Pozo Azul at 90 °C.

Nearby

From the volcano, in a straight line, Coconuco, seat of the Puracé municipality, with its Agua Tibia and Agua Hirviendo hot springs, is about 12 km to the west-northwest and Popayán about 29 km in the same direction; the Sotará volcano is about 32 km to the south-west, San Agustín about 50 km to the south-southeast and the Nevado del Huila about 80 km to the north-northeast.

Key facts