las dunas de taroa, CO
This place is at the same time the most unique, interesting, sad, adventurous, emotional and uncommon thing to do in the entire country of Colombia. With all that being said, it’s the best thing I made the decision to do here in Colombia. This isn’t going to be a normally set up page. The Dunes and the desert around it are so unique that a typical page structure just wouldn’t do. So, its disjointed but bear with me. Las Dunas de Taroa are a really just a place within a place. A place called La Guajira. A desert located at the far northern tip of Colombia. A remote and harsh place not entirely dissimilar from the country of Arrakis of Dune. With that being said, it is only about an hour and a half from the lush coastal jungle of Tayrona. What you find here is in stark contrast to that. It is harsh windy and brutal desert bordering the sea. There’s a lot to do here, but prepare yourself for a long, hard, hot, dusty and emotional ride. Speaking at least for myself I needed to process exactly what it was that I saw for a few days. The people living out here like this, the beauty of it all amongst it, the stark contrast from the lush jungle only a mere hour away. It’s an assault on the senses but if you have time, I can’t recommend it enough.
GETTING THERE
To say that getting out here is difficult would be the understatement of the century. Below is a broken down description of how to get out there and what it takes when you are out there. For 99% of people you are going to have to use a guide to get in here. Theres just no other way around it.
RIOHACHA -
Getting to Riohacha is the first step in all this. Its where all the tours leave from. It’s about an hour and 15 minutes from Palomino and you can easily catch a local bus from palomino out here. Then you need to find your tour guide company. There are a number of them.
You can also elect to just take a taxi. That will cost you about $15. Assuming you are not going to go out here alone, that’s another good option.
I would recommend using SASHII Tours. He really helped me out when I was figuring out how to get in there. They are knowledgeable, nice, have been doing it forever and is the option I would recommend going with here. They also have a little hostel attached to the tour shop so if you need housing before and after the tour, they got you.
The most important thing is that there are these roadblocks out in the desert. To pass through them you need to pay the toll which is typically small candies or a piece of bread. In Riohacha you need to buy a lot of this. More on the roadblock situation below.
Bring anything that you think you will need here. The guides will make sure that you have enough water and all that but the pickings are slim our here so if you want your own snacks or some extra food, there will be no stops for snacks. Whatever you want for yourself outside of the provided meals, is on you.
Also, bring a ton more candy and food for the roadblocks than you ever thought you were going to need. You will thank yourself later after having too much rather than too little. Get some rice, some bread as well. If you can avoid giving candy and instead give some food or water, they appreciate that more.
THE WAY IN -
The way that people do the dunes is typically by a guided tour. The tours are usually 3 days and two nights. A 4x4 vehicle with a guide will take you in and through the desert. Relatively flawlessly navigating the maze of unmarked roads and wrong turns. The cars are equipped for this extreme off-roading and the guides know what they are doing. The tours on the cheap end are going to be $250 for the whole thing. Including accommodation and food.
If you want to do this, really you should plan on 5 days because the tour starts at a place called Riohacha, about an hour north of Palomino. You may need to pass a night on either side of the tour there. It’s a huge commitment but it’s really one of the most unique things you can do in the world.
A NOTE – you can do this on your own if you have your own 4x4 vehicle. I did it. However, I wouldn’t recommend going past Cabo de la Vela without a guide. I would have gotten so lost and probably burned in the desert. I found a guide at Cabo de la Vela and paid him 160k COP ($40 USD) to follow him and his group for two days.
The tours start from Riohacha. From Riohacha you go out to a place called Cabo de La Vela which is a wind surfing hot spot. You spend the night out here and get to see one of the most amazing sunsets you’ll ever witness with local professional kiters flying high in the sky.
After spending the night in Cabo de La Vela, you will take a long 8 hour ride through treacherous and bumpy unmarked desert roads with stops at Las Dunas, then Punta Gallinas and then a place to sleep and eat for the night.
You will spend about 8 hours driving through the desert on day 2.
The final day you will just be making your way out. From where you will sleep, likely near Punta Gallinas, it’s about 6 hours to get out of the desert and back to paved roads. The tour will take you back to Riohacha where you will be dropped off to do as you wish.
BEING THERE
Once you're there, there are some things that you should know. Its a wild place and some things will be very shocking. As to prepare you, as best as is humanly possible, below are some things to know about.
THE ROADBLOCKS -
I just want to touch on this for a little bit. Throughout the road in there will be roadblocks. The roadblocks are extremely hard to watch. They al littered throughout the desert and each way, in and out, there are 150 different stops or paradas. This means there are 300 in total roughly that you will go through on your trip.
At each one, a desperate child or adult asking for such little as a piece of candy for some sustenance. I implore you, bring more than you think you will need.
We were constantly asked for rice and bread, so if you can somehow bring a massive amount of rice that would be better than the candy. But the candy and cookies is easiest. Some pictures of the roadblocks and the candy we had to bring in are below.
THE PEOPLE -
Here in the desert of La Guajira you will find a number of very eye opening things. Among them, an indigenous group of people known as the Wayuu. They have been living out here in these harsh conditions for centuries. A place where little grows, very little can live and water is about as scarce as anywhere I have ever been. I said above that this place is emotional and sad. Its for this reason that I believe that. The people that live out here are living in a way of poverty that I wasn’t aware existed outside of the countries of Africa and India.
There is no water, very little in the way of food outside of skinny goats, and the people are living in stick structures essentially exposed to the oppressive sun and heat. This place sees rain less than a few times per year if that. A book could be written about what goes on here. But in short, in order to pass through the desert, the children have set up rope road blocks along the dusty “roads” through the desert. In order to pass, you need to bring with you bags of small candies, bagged water, and pieces of bread as payment so they lower the ropes and allow you to pass. The desperation is shocking and extremely humbling.
Help them out where you can, buy a fucking bracelet from a kid, give some pesos. They need it more than you I am 100% sure of that.
THE SPOTS
Your guide will likely bring you to all of these places, but these are the different sights to see and places to go within the La Guajira and Las Dunas de Taroa tour for those who are still in the planning and deciding whether its worth it phase. Its an amazing spectacle of things and places to be totally honest.
I would say that this place is the gateway to the desert. Its significantly easier to get to than say the dunes or Punta Gallinas. The roads are marked for the most part and this place is an actual town. With a number of (admittedly dilapidating) restaurants and hotels. A community it seems. As well as people getting by a whole lot better than those in the open desert. That’s not saying much though. The people here are also starving. Cabo del La Vela has some amazing sights to see such as Playa del Pilón de Azúcar and Playa Ojo de Agua.
Additionally, Cabo de La Vela is famously the best place in the country to kite surf. People from all over the world come here to do so. It’s pretty amazing to see the locals learning and a few of them are even top pros across the world circuit. All the local shops are locally owned and run. A bright spot on this place.
The sunsets here are stunning as well. Watching the kite suffers effortlessly fly over the silhouetting sun is one of my favorite memories. After the sun sets, I recommend you find a restaurant here and buy some lobster. Out here they have a few things. Goats, lobsters and shrimps. You will be able to buy some of the cheapest lobster in the world here.
Now onto the name of this place. Las Dunas de Taroa is really how people, especially traveling people refer to it. Or simply the dunes.
They are massive sand dunes that border the harsh windy Atlantic Ocean. Here you can do sandboarding and other stuff like that. It’s so windy that the sand will literally hurt as it hits your face. If you have something to use as a headscarf, do so. But it’s beautiful here. Shocking to see really. Another one of those Colombian landscapes that is shocking to know even exists.
Here in La Guajira, you will find the most Northern point of all of South America. It is called Punta Gallinas and it’s the most northern point of both Colombia and the continent. A pretty amazing thing to be able to say you have stood at.
There’s a small little stone structure and a sign you can take a picture in front of saying you made it to the most northern point of South America. The sunset here is amazing as well.
THE FOOD
The tour guides will provide all your food. You also won’t really be anywhere outside of Cabo de la Vela that has any options from an eating perspective. If you are in Cabo de la Vela though, I would recommend checking out JUACOS. They make good pizza and sell a great lobster. Splitting a pizza and a lobster in the desert. Who knew.
For dinner one night you should try to find some lobster. The lobster here is some of the cheapest in the world. A full lobster and accompaniments will run you about $10. It’s delicious and fresh.
One of the only things that lives out here in abundance are goats. They are literally everywhere. They can survive in the harsh waterless environments just about as well as the Wayuu people can. Chibo is the name for the local cuisine, goat. Get yourself a chibo and try it out. In the smaller towns they only do it once a week or so as to not waste any meat. So, if you are lucky to be at a restaurant in Cabo de la Vela that has chibo on the menu one day, give it a try.
