As I mentioned... We were told that we had to Fly to Hato San Pablo, as the roads were so muddy that even 4 wheel drive backcountry SUV's were getting stuck. It was my first time actually flying a plane. I enjoyed the view more, so gave the controls back to the pilot. Hato is Spanish for a large cattle ranch. This place was HUGE! 170,000 acres. To put that in perspective, Manhattan is 14,600 acres. Paris is 26,000 acres and Seattle is 53,000 acres, so combined they are less than half the size of this ranch. Naturally we only saw a small portion, of the property. They have over 1000 wild horses, and over 6,000 cattle. Here are some of the more unusual animals we saw. Roseate Spoonbill & Scarlett Ibis. Both are either pink or red in color. Since I don't have a telephoto lens I didn't get very good photos. 

Capybara here are some of the baby's. They are a bout the size or a medium pig. They snort kind of like hippos, and definitely go to the water for protection.  We also saw an anteater. I was surprised at how big they are. They are about has tall as a golden retriever and much longer head to tail. 

We took a river boat to explore, as the property is located on the Cravo Sur & the Meta Rivers. Which actually flows from Colombia all the way through Venezuela to the Atlantic Ocean. We saw crocodiles and caiman's. 

At the junction of the 2 rivers were were lucky enough to see the endangered Pink River Dolphins. They are much smaller than bottle nose dolphins. I didn't get any video as they less inquisitive. So here is a photo I found. so you could see.

We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, by going on a horseback ride through the savanna at dusk.  

Right on the trail we found a Magdalena River Turtle which is also on the endanger species list. 

Sadly the llanero (Cowboy) who was giving us a tour of the savanna, took it back to the camp, and was going to make it into soup. Since we don't speak Spanish, it was impossible to explain that it was endangered, and maybe he shouldn't be having it for dinner. The same night at dusk we saw a large flock of Scarlett ibis,

It was a great way to end out visit to Hato San Pablo. It was now time to start heading back. We had a few more days of our trip. Our last big stop was the Chicamocha Canyon. It's actually deeper than the Grand Canyon, and I decided that this was the PERFECT opportunity to try out Paragliding. 

I was definitely nervous, as I am only slightly afraid of heights. It was a smooth ride and I was surprised at how smooth the landing and flight were. We had many more adventures and experiences on this trip, quite frankly too many to note in the 3 blogs I have posted on this. IF you're interested in either seeing more photos of Colombia's Highlands or asking about our trip more, feel free to reach out.

Colombia is truly one of the most beautiful countries we have ever visited. I am so glad we took the time to explore the interior.