About Colombia

Colombia is a truly unique country. It is not an exaggeration to say that Colombia has it all. Beautiful beaches, dense rainforest, arid deserts, rugged coast line, caribbean cays, snow capped mountains, diverse flora and fauna, precious metals, ancient civilizations and deep blue lakes. You name it Colombia has it in abundance.

Its geographical position, warm and friendly people and rich cultural background make visiting it an experience few are likely to forget. It also makes it a great place to study Spanish and learn more about the culture and landscape.

Geography

Most people assume that Colombia is just a tropical country; but the country’s physical geography is amazingly diverse.

The western part, almost half the territory, is mountainous where the Andes splits into three chains – Cordillera Occidental, Central and Oriental – running roughly parallel north – south for the length of the country.

Colombia has 15 peaks over 5,000m, making them all higher than anything in the USA. Two valleys, the Valle del Cauca and Valle del Magdalena, are sandwiched between the three cordilleras. The dominant rivers in each valley flow northward, uniting and eventually emptying into the Caribbean near Barranquilla.

The other half the country, east of the Andes, is vast lowland, and is divided into two regions, Los Llanos to the north and the Amazon to the south.

Los Llanos, roughly 250,000 km² in area, is a huge open savannah in the Orinoco river basin. The Amazon, stretching over 400,000 km², occupies all of Colombia’s southeast and lies in the Amazon basin. Most of this land is covered by thick rainforest and crisscrossed by rivers.

Flora and Fauna

Like no other country on the planet, Colombia has the full range of environments and micro climates. Its unique location in the tropics but with the majestic high altitude Andes makes it a complete package and a traveler’s paradise.

Colombia can rightly claim to have the most plants and animals per square kilometer in the world: 350 different species of mammals, 15% of the world’s species of primates and 18% of the world’s species of birds.

Current Situation in Colombia

We are often asked about the current political situation in Colombia and whether it is safe to visit. The current situation is that Colombia is more politically and economically stable now than it has been for 40 years, making it a great time to visit. The general safety for foreigners and Colombians is better than in most of the other countries in South America.

Sadly the western governments and press has been slow to accept the changes that have occurred and prefer to focus on its previous negative past. As a result many of the advisory agencies still place the country in a high risk category.

For a variety of reasons, mainly language and availability, it can be hard for people outside the country to get a good idea of what is happening there. We recommend that students and their families do some research into the real state of Colombia outside the popular media.

There are a number of web sites and other forms of media that give a more update and balanced view of the current state of the country. We recommend the following to gain a better idea of the current situation:

• Wiki Travel
• Lonely Planet
• The Guardian (UK Newspaper and Media site)
• Colombia Travel

Safety and Security

While it is true Colombia is less safe than some destinations our personal view is that with a few precautions the chances of you having any problems are very small. We help ensure this by provide good greeting services for arriving students and maintaining a visible and positive position in the communities where we operate. We also give advice and suggestions as part of our school induction process.

One of the benefits of our school's locations are that we are not in the large tourist destinations. The levels of crime for tourists outside Bogotá, Cartagena and Medellin are considerable smaller. In the two years we have been accepting students we have never had an incident of crime.