Among the sacred hills of Colombia’s Guainía

The writer traveled to the Cerros de Mavicure, Mono, and Pajarito in Colombia's Guainía region, granite outcrops of the Guiana Shield considered sacred by Puinave and Cubeo peoples and tied to creation stories and rules governing relations with the natural world. The hills span the El Venado and El Remanso Indigenous territories, and the trip was guided by local residents who navigate the region's rivers, the main transport routes connecting communities, forests, and fishing grounds.

River levels were unusually high for the season, and residents noted the waterways face growing exposure to illegal gold mining and mercury contamination. When the nearby Estrella Fluvial de Inírida Ramsar site was designated, some Indigenous communities opposed boundaries overlapping their territories, and the Cerros were ultimately excluded from the final Ramsar area, leaving their protection to Indigenous governance and community-managed tourism instead.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.