Excellent for off the beaten track adventure tours in Colombia is La Guajira Peninsula, which lies on the coast eastwards of Riohacha and Park Tayrona. La Guajira is an arid and coastal area with some beautiful beaches, and is sparsely populated by indigenous Wayuu Indians. The area is remote and travel and tourism infrastructure is lacking - you'll be sleeping in very basic hotels / posadas or in hammocks.
Manaure is one of the larger towns in La Guajira and has a few basic hotels (eg. Unuipa, Palaaima and Hotel Manaure). The nearby salt flats are worth a visit. Just outside of Manaure, many flamingoes can be seen in the lagoons near Musichi. An hours travel from Manaure is Uribia, known as the indigenous capital of Colombia, and is an excellent place to buy local handicrafts. If you visit in May, don't miss the Wayuu Indian festival. Hotels in Uribia include Flamingo Hotel, Juyasirian and Uribia Hotel. Kai Ecotravel is a local tour operator that can arrange tours of parts of La Guarija Peninsula such as this.
Deeper into La Guarija Peninsula one finds Cabo de la Vela, whose lagoons see huge flocks of flamingoes and herons (season dependent). The beaches at Cabo de la Vela are excellent - see the photos to the right. The local Wayuu Indians believe their souls go to Cabo de la Vela after death. Cabo de la Vela has a basic Indian run hotel called El Meson.
Travel northeast from Uribia to the Wayuu village of Nazareth. There is no public transportation in this area. Nazareth is the gateway to the Macuira National Park, and excellent park for wildlife spotting and nature walks. For those that wish to travel to Macuira, hitch hiking is a possibility, though it is better to find a tour operator in Riohacha to organise a 4WD driving package. Current safety conditions should be checked before visiting this remote part of Colombia.
