Punta Gallinas is one of the best-known destinations in the Guajira desert. People come here from Riohacha to admire the spectacular scenery, a meeting of the desert and the Caribbean Sea.
At first glance, it’s an isolated destination accessible only by 4×4 through the desert. The famous Bahia Honda offers a symphony of colors. Then there are the Taroa dunes, immense sand dunes that tumble into the waves.
We discovered Punta Gallinas on a classic tour of the Guajira desert.
Disclaimer: we apologize in advance for any grammatical or syntactic errors, as our native language is not English (we're a Colombian-French couple), so we hope you'll forgive us and still enjoy the information we share with you! Please note that all the information on our blog is based on our own experience, and is checked and updated regularly.
PREPARING PSYCHOLOGICALLY FOR THE GUAJIRA DESERT
To avoid any surprises, we feel it’s important to have some information before setting off into the Guajira Desert. Here are a few things to expect:
- Plastic pollution around rancherias and villages
- Children blocking the road to beg
- Seeing families fetching water from rain holes
- Having a problem with your 4×4 (breakdown, puncture, etc.)
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Punta Gallinas
Visit the Guajira Desert
Punta Gallinas is the most northerly point of Colombia, and thus of the entire South American continent. In other words, it’s one of those “ends of the world” that make a visit a real symbol.
If you want to cross the continent of South America from its highest to its lowest point, you’ll have to start from Punta Gallinas and go all the way down to Cape Horn in Chile.
In a word, it’s a hostile land. A land where the wind blows, where the sun burns the skin, and where the ancestral Wayuu culture is still strong and present. There are around a hundred indigenous Wayuu living in the area on various family rancherias.
On the way to Punta Gallinas, the desert landscape unfolds. Our first objective is to reach the famous Taroa dunes. This is one of the most popular points of interest for tourists visiting the Guajira desert.
Punta gallinas Tour with Responsible Local Agency
It’s essential to go into the desert with a serious agency. Paola’s agency is one of the few in Riohacha to have developed responsible tourism in the Guajira desert. You can go with your eyes closed and break the piggy bank to go as far as Macuira!
The Taroa Dunes
Discover Punta Gallinas in the Guajira Desert
Arriving from the desert, the Taroa dunes rise up as if to hide a secret from us. A meeting with the Caribbean Sea and its powerful waves.
As you’d expect, the higher you climb the duneside, the stronger the wind becomes. When we reach the top, the wind explodes in our faces. The wind, the raised sand as far as the eye can see, the sea in the background – the landscape is sublime.
As soon as we reach the top of the dune, all we want to do is run down it at full speed! And dive into the warm water to crash against the waves!
Punta gallinas Tour with Responsible Local Agency
It’s essential to go into the desert with a serious agency. Paola’s agency is one of the few in Riohacha to have developed responsible tourism in the Guajira desert. You can go with your eyes closed and break the piggy bank to go as far as Macuira!
Punta Gallinas lighthouse
Discover the Guajira desert
The Punta Gallinas lighthouse is the most northerly lighthouse in South America! CQFD.
Admittedly, it’s not the most impressive lighthouse in the world. It’s a simple 18-metre-high metal structure that has been in operation since 1989.
That said, it’s easy to appreciate the importance of this symbolic site for passing travellers. A gigantic number of “kerns” (small piles of pebbles) litter the ground. Like offerings to the gods of the sea and of travel.
Let’s face it, the place has no other interest than its strong symbolic significance. But that’s something in itself (well, we love the ends of the earth).
Bahia Hondita
Punta Gallinas in the Guajira desert
Bahia Hondita is a small bay in the interior of Bahia Honda. It is home to several Wayuu rancherias, including the most famous, Luz Mila, a pioneer in welcoming tourists to the region.
From our point of view, Bahia Hondita offers the most beautiful scenery in Punta Gallinas. The earth here is all shades of ochre, contrasting with the green and turquoise of the bay. In the light of early morning or sunset, the spectacle is splendid.
Bahia Hondita is also a migration site for pink flamingos. You can observe them in the heart of the bay. This activity is included in most Punta Gallinas tours.
There are several beaches in the area. But the most famous is Punta Agujas. It’s here, with its west-facing slope, that you can enjoy some of the Guajira’s most beautiful sunsets.
In conclusion, Punta Gallinas is clearly one of La Guajira’s most beautiful natural sites. It has some of the most beautiful scenery you’ll ever see in the Guajira desert!
Tarde de rancheria
Discovering Wayuu culture
Finally, we’d like to tell you about the “Tardes de rancheria”. More and more tour operators are offering visitors the chance to discover the Wayuu culture. It’s worth pointing out that, despite the interest of these initiatives, we can sometimes feel uneasy about people who seem to participate reluctantly.
Punta Gallinas is one of the best places to discover Wayuu culture. Some agencies offer a time to meet in a rancheria to share Wayuu traditions. This is an opportunity to learn more about this ancestral culture and better understand the territory of the Guajira desert.
Contact for Punta Gallinas tour
As you’ll have understood, it’s essential to go into the desert with a serious local agency. After a mixed experience, we decided to look for an agency offering a different kind of tourism.
Paola’s agency is one of the few in Riohacha to develop responsible tourism in the Guajira desert.
Even if the tour basics are the same as the other agencies (Manaure, Cabo de la vela, Punta Gallinas, Macuira), the difference is in the details:
- Safety and reliability (mandatory breathalyzer test for all drivers and 4×4 inspection before each departure)
- More interaction with your Wayuu driver (they are not guides, but they are trained to answer your questions and interact with you)
- Maximum 5 people in 4x4s
- Visit to a Wayuu weaving workshop
- Share with locals around the sacred fire
- Share with the children of Nazareth (if you go to La Macuira)
- Turtle liberation (program to protect endangered Careta turtles)
- Swimming in luminescent plankton
- Community contribution (all services are provided by the community)
- Offers the Macuira Natural Park (and many other destinations in the department)
If you add to this the fact that Paola has been setting up social-interest projects throughout the department for many years, there’s nothing more to think about. Do you think her prices are a little more expensive than elsewhere? Now you know why, and more importantly, you know where your money is going.
We’d advise anyone who wants to do the classic Guajira Desert tour, including Cabo de la Vela and Punta Gallinas, to put in the budget and push on to Parc de la Macuira.
Contact Paola – Responsible local agency
How to get to Punta Gallinas
Punta Gallinas is too remote and complicated a destination to hope to reach easily on one’s own.
Inland, the desert is a roadless vastness where you have to navigate by 4×4 on sight and avoid its many pitfalls. By sea, you’ll have to be patient and avoid the scams.
Add to this the security issues in this particular territory, and the safest thing to do is to go on an organized tour.
