By Ovidio Castro Medina |
Hato La Aurora (Colombia), (EFE) back the dependence on the oil and gas industry.
In these vast plains located between Hato Corozal and Paz de Ariporo, different species of birds abound, pumas, deer, capybaras, jaguars, pumas, foxes, alligators, honey bears and anteaters, and the fearsome anaconda or güio that can measure up to nine meters long, according to the locals.
That biodiversity and the orange sunrises are part of the Llanero Safari, an initiative of the Casanare authorities and the region’s farmers for ecological tourism in which the slogan is to enjoy and take care of nature so that future generations can also get to know the palette. of colors that this part of eastern Colombia offers.
“What the department seeks is to promote nature tourism to ‘de-oil’ the region and open the way for new forms of development based on the indigenous,” Casanare governor Salomón Sanabria Chacón told EFE.
The safari is a tourist, cultural and sustainable adventure that includes the sighting of wild species in their habitat and also allows you to enjoy the gastronomy of this area of the country where you can find dishes based on meat, fruit, vegetables and rice.
Mentality change
With an extension of 44,640 square kilometers, similar to that of Denmark or Estonia, and only 450,000 inhabitants, Casanare is the main producer of rice and supplier of gas in Colombia, the second in oil production, the fourth in oil palm crops and the fifth in livestock with a herd of two million cattle.
“We know that oil and gas will run out and that is why, several years ago, local administrations began to switch to other sources (of income), and tourism is one of them,” says Sanabria.
Visitors come to Casanare from the United States and several European countries, which make up more than 90% of the tourists who visit that department.
Sanabria celebrates that there has been a change in the imagination of the locals and landowners who have understood the importance of birds, the leopard, the capybara -the largest and heaviest rodent on the planet-, or the anteater, among other species that they used to hunt before.
“They and the visitors know that you can’t hunt. What is allowed is to enjoy the Llano observing the richness of flora and fauna ”, she concludes.
To delve into the immensities of Casanare, the traveler can reach Yopal, the departmental capital, on commercial flights.
From that moment on, it has at its disposal more than 150 farms that offer tourists a variety of programs, such as bird watching or enjoying its rivers and lagoons with the common denominator of “seeing and listening” to nature.
The jaguar, the king of the Colombian jungle
The jaguar, the largest cat in the Americas and the third largest in the world after the lion and the tiger, is waging a silent battle in Colombia to recover a habitat that has been shrinking due to hunting and human activity.
This feline has found in Jorge Armando Barragán an “ally” who protects him as co-owner of Hato La Aurora where livestock is combined with the conservation of fauna and flora.
“The presence of the jaguar indicates that the ecosystem is healthy, that there is water,” explains Barragán to EFE, who began studying this animal more than 20 years ago.
Since 2009, the rancher has been monitoring them through camera traps and, according to his own census, there are 66 of these cats in the region, of which between 10 and 12 live in his herd.
“The important thing is to establish a coexistence with the jaguar, which is the piece most sought after by visitors to observe them in their natural habitat,” he says.
Barragán is convinced that all animals are a treasure that are worth more if they are alive because “nobody wants them dead. We are among those who believe that living in peace with animals is essential for us and for the future of humanity”.