Hello hiker, if you are planning for an adventure trip to Ciudad Perdida, you may find the following article helpful to you. The name Ciudad Perdida means, ‘the lost city.’ This place is situated at the end of more than twelve thousand rock steps near the tropical forest of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada. It is a ruin of an ancient, deserted city. This city got revealed to the outer world in the 1970s. This was an incredible historical finding of that time. The world came to know this town as Ciudad Perdida or the lost city.
Magic Of The Lost City
The most important and exciting fact about Ciudad Perdida – the creators built this city nearly 650 years before than Machu Picchu (around 800 CE). It was proved to be a massive city with respect to other ancient cities. It almost held approximately 2000 to 8000 inhabitants. Along with that, the engineers built this city with the effective use of brilliant engineering. The town is built over a slope of the mountain above nearly a mile from the sea level. An advanced drainage system was also present in this ancient city. Moreover, we can also trace the evidence of stone made bridges here.
History believes that the Tairona Kingdom once ruled the city. The same dynasty ruled northern Colombia as well as the whole Sierra Nevada. Most possibly, in the 16th century AD when the Spanish conquistadores came here, the people abandoned the town.
Top Tourist Attraction Of Ciudad Perdida
Despite its name, this city never lost its life historically. The area, still ruled by the Tairona peoples but in a different name. Though these peoples deserted the city centuries ago, still the myths of them, always going on throughout the generations. When the site, scientists discovered in the ’70s, the native peoples accepted its existence with silent support. The indigenous peoples of Sierra Nevada never left the place unvisited; instead, they were frequent visitors of the place generation after generation like a tradition. Ciudad Perdida, people locally know it as Teyuna. The native peoples had kept the original location secret from the outsiders. According to history, such initiatives people take to avoid hazardous situations that happened before when some bandits, hooligans traced the city.
After being closed for years, the lost city is now open for tourists. A visitor to the town must be physically highly capable of hiking. The only access to the place is a seven-mile hike through the off roads and extreme climate. If you are planning your next trip to Ciudad Perdida, you have to be ready in advance, both physically and financially. This is about a 42km hike, which requires the right level of physical fitness and durability. The off roads can challenge your health critically, so you have to be cautious about that beforehand. You will need nearly six days for a return hike from Ciudad Perdida.
Way Forward
Since 2009, a non-profit organization, Global Heritage Fund has been working on this site for its development and implementation of a regional management plan, documentation, and conservation of the archeological features at the lost city. They are also engaging the residents in the work of preservation and sustainable development for the site.
