The Lost City Trek

The Lost City trek is a four day hike through the jungle-clad mountains of the Sierra Nevada to Teyuna - an ancient indigenous city known as Teyuna to the indigenous Kogi people. The ruins of the city were lost to the jungle (but not lost to the indigenous people in the mountains), until it was ‘discovered’ by grave robbers and looters in the 1970s. The city is thought to have been founded in 850BC which means it predates Machu Picchu by 650 years. Though the city was abandoned in the 1500s due to the Spanish colonisers, but the indigenous people in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada resisted the conquistadors and the Kogi people live in the last remaining pre-Colombia settlement, and have more or less kept the traditions and culture of the Kogi people alive.

The hike:

The hike to Teyuna takes four days, and we spent three nights in jungle camps. The total distance we walked was relatively short at 70km over the 4 days, 35km there and 35km back, but the mountain terrain and steep climbs made it tricky. There was about 2700m of elevation gain and loss over the four days, and there was no flat - only up or down! You have to have a guide for the trek, as you walk with permission from the indigenous people who own the land. We were lucky to have two fantastic guides, Pipe and Fabian (who the locals called Indio), who taught us a lot about the inidgenous culture and history of the land. 

The thing that makes this trek most difficult is the climate - the temperatures in the tropical jungle are always above 30 degrees, and the humidity is 95%. This means that everything gets wet (and sweaty), and it stays wet due to the humidity. Walking in the heat and humidity was a challenge for us, we were constantly sweaty, and sleeping in the heat was tough. Depending on when you do the hike, bugs and mosquitos can be an issue, but luckily we didn’t experience too many on our trek. 

We carried all our gear with us, though we didn’t need to take any food as this was provided (we did take a few snacks). We bought small day bags for the hike and took the bare minimum to reduce the weight we needed to carry - a few changes of clothes and just a few toiletries. Some people took huge bags which were heavy and hard to walk with, and some people chose to have their bag carried by mule. 

Day 1:

Today we met at the tour office and we were driven to our stay point in the town of El Mamey. We had lunch, prepared our packs and then set off on the start of the walk. We walked about 5 hours doing 9km mostly uphill to get to our first jungle camp: Adam’s camp. On the way we stopped at rest points with kiosks selling cold drinks, until we reached our highest point for the day - a mirador lookout looking over the mountains. 

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We learnt about the history of the farmers land we were walking over, including it being used to grow cannabis for decades, before the whole area was torched and destroyed by chemicals by the government. The land was mostly destroyed and unusable after this, and it’s only more recently that the farmers have been able to start growing crops again. Many farmers lost their livelihood from the burning of the cannabis plantations, and have turned to tourism and setting up kiosks and camps for hikers to make a living instead. 

When we arrived at our first camp we were pleasantly surprised by the facilities. We had been told to expect basic conditions, but we were all assigned a bed (bottom bunks for us all!) with a mosquito net, and there were showers and flushing toilets. The bunks beds were all lined up outside, but with a roof covering them. There was also a lovely river swimming spot, and it was so nice to cool down and soak our muscles in the cold water after a hot and sweaty hike! 

We had dinner, and learnt more about some of the indigenous culture and customs from Fabian, known by the locals as Indio, who himself is indigenous. He showed us the coca leaves which are sacred to the Kogi people, and we tried some coca tea. We learnt about the differences between cocaine and the coca leaf, and how the indigenous sacred plant itself actually isn’t harmful or psychoactive. Luckily the coca tea was actually quite calming and didn’t keep us up all night! We both slept much better than we thought we would, and we got up at 5am ready to start a long day of walking.

Day 2:  

We got up at 5am, had a good breakfast and set off walking at 6am. We walked around 8km in four hours to Mumake camp where we stopped for lunch and a swim. On the way we walked through an indigenous village, where families come and stay when there are meetings or celebrations to attend, as the rest of the time most Kogi people live nomadically, high up in the mountains. 

After lunch we had some time to rest (and attempt to dry out our clothes in the sun!), and then we walked another 7km in around 4 hours to our camp for the night. We had a refreshing dip in the river by camp, and then popcorn and dinner! Afterwards we had an early-ish night because we had an early start planned the next morning to visit the lost city. 

Day 3:

Today we had another 5am start, for a quick breakfast to leave camp at 6am. Today we left our gear at camp as we would be returning after lunch, and left some clothes out in an attempt to dry them! We hiked for around 1 hour, crossing a river and climbing the 1200 steps to the entrance of the city. From here we had around 3 hours to explore, and our guides talked to us about the city and it’s history. Actually our guide Pipe worked with his dad as part of the restoration and cataloguing of finds at Teyuna, so he knew the site better than anybody, and it was interesting to hear about the work that he did. 

The lost city truly was spectacular, and more incredible because apart from a few other groups we were the only ones there. It felt like a very spiritual place, and it was surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery. The Kogi people have a mama (male leader) and zaga (female leader) who live on the land at Teyuna to protect it and spiritually cleanse it. We were lucky to meet the zaga, who offered us a spiritual blessing to ward off negativity. It was really fascinating to hear about the Kogi people beliefs and way of life, they limit contact with the outside world and live in harmony with the great mother, who they believe is the force behind nature.

After spending a few hours exploring Teyuna and taking photos, we walked the one hour back to camp to have some lunch and gather our things. After lunch we started walking back the way we had come, around 7km back to Mamake camp where we spent the night. We had a swim and dinner, and an early night as we were all exhausted! Unluckily for us, the camp was smaller than the others we had stayed in so we had to share bunk beds, Ash and I argued it out but I ended up on top bunk, which was super hard to climb up to and down from with tired legs and feet! Neither of us slept that well, as it was very hot and humid. And all too soon our 5am wake up call came! 

Day 4:

Today we woke up as usual at 5am, to leave camp for 6am. Today was our longest day of walking - 17km in total. We walked 8km back to Adam’s camp for lunch, and after a quick rest we walked the remaining 9km back to the town of El Mamey to meet the minibus. Lots of people get mules to carry their bags back on the last day, or even ride the mules, but we were glad to say we did it all ourselves. This was the toughest day for us, it was lots of up and down hill, and we were tired and had sore feet and legs. But we were happy to have done the hike and got to see Teyuna. We had a lunch at El Mamey and then got driven back to the office in Santa Marta. 

Reflections: 

The lost city trek was like any other hike we have ever done, anywhere in the world, and it was an incredible experience. Though the hike itself wasn’t too challenging, we enjoyed the challenge of the jungle terrain and climate. What made this trek so different was hiking through indigenous sacred lands, including through villages, and we loved learning about the Kogi culture and customs. Their respect for nature and striving to live in balance with the earth really resonated with and inspired us. 

Walking through the jungle was amazing, some of it is virgin jungle and to be able to spend four days in the jungle was an amazing experience. Hiking in this remote area, with few tourists really added to the experience, we felt that Teyuna was all the more special for being almost the only people there! 

We felt really lucky to have had such great guides for our trek, they were knowledgeable and patient - at no point did we ever feel rushed! We also had an amazing group of people to trek with, their were 9 of us total - Rich and Liz (from England), David (from Wales), Gigi and Brandon (from Florida), and Se and Elisa (from Brazil). We got on with everyone in the group, and we enjoyed getting to know them all,  and sharing this experience with them. 

We were pleasantly surprised by the camps, as they weren’t anywhere near as basic as we thought (we’ve stayed in worst hostels!), and the food we were provided by our group chef was amazing, he went out his way to make good veggie alternatives, and we definitely didn’t go hungry! 

Overall the list city trek has been a real highlight of our trip so far, and we will remember it as an incredible experience we were fortunate to have had in Colombia. 

Next stop: back to Minca for some rest and relaxation!