In late July-early August 2019, Carla Black and I returned to Colombia to visit a number of areas we have travelled to previously, but this time we were planning on having a closer look and spend some more time getting off the road and into the forest. The primary goal was to get back into the Choco region and Cordillera Occidental (or Western Range) and get into the pluvial forests where rainfall can average between 8 and 13 metres per year. We met in Medellin, Carla after a 1.5-hour flight from Panama City, while I had 23 hours flying with three stops and one cancelled flight from Bogota to Medellin--and a night in an airport hotel to contend with. Such are the joys of travelling to South America from Australia!

After having our hire car delivered and a fantastic buffet breakfast at our airport hotel in Rionegro outside of Medellin, we were set to begin the adventure. Our first test was to get through the traffic in Medellin and head north-west along the highway that leads to Turbo and the Caribbean Sea near the border with Panama. Along the way we were able to see plenty of blooming Tillandsia fasciculata, growing on trees at lower elevations close to the road. As we gained elevation heading towards Frontino, trees that were left in cleared paddocks were loaded in blooming Tillandsia bulbosa and T. balbisiana (Fig. 1).

Our first base was in the little town of Nutibara. It sits at 1300m below the ridge of the Cordillera, which tops out close to 2300m and is probably the most northern road that crosses the ridge and drops down into the lowlands of the Rio Atrato river valley in northern Choco. We were able to stay at the same house we stayed at 4 years ago and had great lodgings and food supplied by our lovely host Maria. Nutibara is truly a rural town with only a few stores, one bakery and a couple of bars and pool halls. It was not unusual to see a horse having a beer at one of the bars on Saturday night, our first night in town (Fig 2).

The road over the range is a little rough and rocky and sadly proved too much for our hired 4WD Chevrolet Captiva. We were dragging its underbelly over rocks and soon had shoved a mild steel protective guard for the fuel tank into the propeller shaft resulting in terrible grinding noises. This necessitated getting under it regularly and using our store bought shovel to bash the guard forward off the propeller shaft. Sadly, we were being held captive in our Captiva due to its lack of clearance. It was very good in slippery mud but useless where the road had lumps and bumps. After enduring this for a while, we decided we would have to get out and begin walking. Luckily we knew what to expect from 4 years ago, so we were happy to walk up and over...