Salto del Tequendama

The Bogota river falls about a hundred and thirty-two metres here off the edge of the savanna, and in Muisca tradition the gap in the rock was opened by Bochica to drain a flooded plain. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it was a destination - Humboldt described it, and a hotel was built on the cliff opposite in 1923 for visitors. Then Bogota's sewage went into the river untreated and the fall became a torrent of contaminated water with a smell to match; the hotel closed in the 1990s and stood derelict. It was restored and reopened in 2013 as a museum of biodiversity and culture, and river clean-up works have improved the water somewhat, though the fall is still not clean.

Background

Salto del Tequendama is a waterfall 132 metres high on the Bogotá River in the municipality of Soacha, 32 kilometres southwest of Bogotá, at 2,385 metres above sea level. It takes its name from the nearby settlement of Tequendama, one of the earliest permanent settlements in Colombia. The river is squeezed into a gorge of rock only about 18 metres wide at the lip before dropping in a single fall, which in December can run completely dry. Frederic Edwin Church painted it in 1854, and it can be reached by road from Bogotá.

Source: Wikipedia, "Tequendama Falls"

What's there

• A fall of about 132 metres - off the edge of the savanna.
• A 1923 cliff-top hotel - derelict for years, now a museum.
• A Muisca origin story - the gap opened by Bochica.
• A river still recovering - decades of untreated sewage.

When to go

Year round. Two hours.

Good to know

The water is polluted, though less so than it was, and the smell can be strong. The setting is industrial and the approach through Soacha is not scenic. The museum is the reason to stop rather than the fall itself.

Nearby

Soacha is north-east; Bogota is beyond.

Key facts