Enter the Páramo, La Cocha, Colombia

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After our early morning search for orchids, the weather cleared up slightly. We made a climb on foot a few hundred meter higher to about 3,500m asl. We had two target birds in mind, more on that later.

It is here where we first set foot into the Páramo ecosystem, an ecosystem we had never heard of before. The Páramo ecosystem is a tundra-like system characterized by its altitude, it's above the permanent tree line yet below the snow line. Páramo ecosystems can be found in multiple countries in Central and South America, where Colombia has the largest surface area of them.

Páramo ecosystems are typically further divided into altitude zones, from low to high: Subpáramo, Grass Páramo and Superpáramo. Conditions in the Páramo are highly local, yet in general they are known for the extremely changeable weather. A study has established the Páramo ecosystem as the world's fast evolving, meaning it rapidly produces new (endemic) species:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3793228/

This particular Páramo in Colombia is permanently moist and foggy. The soil is very wet as well, yet I'm told the soil is very poor in nutrients.

On a more personal note, we'd describe it as a very wet desert. With peculiar species of plants and lichen, it feels like walking on another planet as there's just no comparison or earlier experience that comes to mind.

We didn't have much time to capture the stunning plant life here, but I did take a few snaps with the smartphone, which I'll share. I'm grouping photos from this unique ecosystem in this tag:

181Páramo