La Chorrera waterfall is a remarkable 590 metres high, making it the highest in Colombia and 60th highest in the world. More remarkably, it’s just one hour’s drive from Bogotá, plus a beautiful three-hour hike (there and back) through lush Andean cloud forest.

It drops dramatically over seven steps down the near-vertical escarpment of the eastern Andean cordillera – a sliver of silver against the jungle-clad limestone rock face – before disappearing into the matted green of the La Bolsa gully, from where it drains east to the Orinoco.

You can see the falls from along the main road from Bogotá to Choachí, but to really appreciate it you need to take a detour to Parque Aventura La Chorrera, a cooperative venture set up by 12 local land-owning families that provides camping, abseiling, horse-riding and other ecotourism activities in the area, as well as the hike to the falls.

The hiking trail is well marked with guide stations along the way, and even a restaurant and snack shop at the smaller El Chiflón waterfall (where you can also abseil). Much of the path follows the old colonial Camino Real, a rocky mule track that was once the main transport route between Bogotá and Villavicencio.