The Spectacular River of Five Colors

Caño Cristales is considered one of the most beautiful rivers in the world, it is a stream of the Sierra de la Macarena, a mountain range located in the Departamento del Meta, one of the Colombian regions affected by the presence of the Amazon Forest.

This river is known throughout the world for the thousand-shaded colors of the vegetation that shines through the water and which give it the true appearance of a “liquid rainbow”, the other name by which it is known.

In the period from May to November, in fact, shades of five colors shine through its waters: red, yellow, green, blue and black. This happens because the lowering of the water level allows the sun’s rays to heat the moss and other plant formations left exposed between the rocks with shades ranging from purple to magenta.

All the other colors are instead produced by the Macarenia Clavigera, a particular algae endemic to the area which, transported for kilometers by the currents, adhering firmly to the rocks in the points where the river has a faster current, gives the waters of the river enchanting shades chromatic shades ranging from yellow to green, up to red and pink in a chromatic magic that intertwines among the black rocks dating back thousands of years ago.