Chocó

There is no gradual introduction to the Chocó. From Medellín or Bogotá you board a small propeller aircraft, land on a jungle airstrip, and step directly into one of the most biologically complex ecosystems on Earth. The Chocó bioregion spans Colombia's Pacific coast into northwest Ecuador and contains an estimated 9,000 plant species, more than 600 bird species, and levels of biodiversity that have made it a global priority for conservation science.

The towns of Nuquí and Bahía Solano are the main entry points, positioned 50 kilometers apart on the Pacific coast of the Chocó department, surrounded by primary rainforest, with black sand beaches where the jungle reaches the treeline at the ocean's edge. There are no roads connecting these communities to the rest of Colombia. That isolation is the reason the ecosystem has survived. Between July and November, humpback whales migrate from Antarctic feeding grounds to these warm equatorial waters to breed and give birth. The bays around Nuquí and Bahía Solano are among the most reliable locations in the world for close-range whale encounters. Between October and January, three species of sea turtles, including the leatherback, the largest reptile on Earth, nest on these same beaches.

The communities here are predominantly Afro-Colombian and Emberá indigenous, and the culture, the cooking, the music, and the relationship to the land and ocean are inseparable from the forest that surrounds everything. Visiting the Chocó is not adventure tourism in the conventional sense. It is an encounter with a part of the world that has not been made convenient for visitors, and that remains its greatest distinction.