The ancient Lost City of Teyuna, in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada region, has long captured the imagination of travellers seeking off-the-beaten-track trekking adventures.
For the first time, travellers will get an opportunity to explore the new route.
G Adventures and Planeterra have partnered with the Lost City’s Indigenous Wiwa community to allow travellers to explore a new undiscovered route, visiting an Indigenous village that is opening its doors to tourism for the first time.
The seven-day tour, Colombia – Lost City Trekking tour includes an Indigenous Wiwa guide, overnight stays in Wiwa camp sites, leading groups through the farmland surrounding the Lost Cit. The new route will pass through the Wiwa village of Gotsezhi, where travellers will undergo a traditional soul-cleansing ceremony before entering.
Once inside, travellers will visit the community, with a translator, learning first-hand about their customs, before enjoying a traditional meal cooked by the women using local ingredients.
Committed to supporting Indigenous communities around the world, Planeterra and G Adventures have been working with local partner Wiwa Tours since 2015 with the aim of identifying opportunities for the communities along the Lost City trekking route.
Working with Wiwa Tours, they developed a community enterprise in the village of Gotsezhi for women to demonstrate and sell their traditional woven bags and handicrafts as well as to provide meals to travellers trekking to the Lost City.
In 2017, Planeterra introduced a set of industry guidelines, to improve tourism’s interaction with Indigenous communities in order to ensure the long-term prosperity and survival of communities like the Wiwa people through tourism, while allowing travellers to learn more about their cultures and traditions.