Colombia’s Amazonas department has two municipalities – capital Leticia and the small community of Puerto Nariño, located two hours up the Amazon River by boat.
Visitors to Puerto Nariño are always in awe of the town’s manicured lawns, white picket fence gardens and open market where the three main indigenous groups of the region, the Ticuna, Yagua and Cocama, come to trade. Nestled on the banks of the Amazon River, Puerto Nariño is the gateway to another magical place, the Tarapoto lakes, home to pink river dolphins, caimans, macaws, squirrel monkeys and a pre-historic river fish called pirarucú.
The Tarapoto’s network of inter-connected waterways is one of the most conserved habitats in the Colombian Amazon. However, the encroachment of tourism offering dolphin spotting and piranha fishing from motorized boats is threatening the biodiversity of this 400-square kilometer area of dense rainforest and lakes...
