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If you are looking for some waterfall fun near Salento, then look no further than visiting Santa Rita Nature Reserve. This reserve, focused on conservation and eco-friendly practices, used to be a coffee farm. But today, it is a sustainable ecotourism project that aims to educate visitors about the fauna and flora of the high Andean rainforest and how important it is to take care of it. In this post, you can find everything you need to know about this wonderful nature reserve!
Santa Rita Reserva Natural near Salento
Located in the heart of Colombia’s coffee triangle, you can find the wonderful Santa Rita Natural Reserve. Santa Rita is located in Boquia, a small town just a short bus ride from Salento. It is a private property that spans over 173 hectares of which 73 hectares consist of protected high Andean rainforest.
The reserve is gorgeous and takes you through rolling fields and a low-impact silvopastoral system first before arriving at the Santa Rita stream and Quindio River where you can find great swimming spots, hiking trails into the mountains, and the Barranquero and Santa Rita Waterfall.
Entrance to Santa Rita waterfall finca and reserve near Salento (Boquia), Colombia
Once a coffee farm, this land was a part of the route used in the 19th century by Simon Bolivar and his troops during the liberation campaign of Gran Colombia.
Furthermore, as you explore the Santa Rita Nature Reserve, you will encounter multiple tunnels that you can walk through. Although it’s a bit odd to find these here, the tunnels are of historical significance to the region.
The tunnels were the first steps in 1947 for creating a railroad to connect the region with Bogota and Buenaventura to boost the economy, However, due to the topography or the region and difficulties engineering a railroad plan that can traverse the Andean Mountains, this project failed and you can only see the ruins today.
Today, the finca and the estate function as a nature reserve focused on the preservation of the Andean rainforest and they also operate a guesthouse and a camping area.
A great way to discover the Santa Rita Natural Reserve is by staying for a few nights in the finca or camp in the pasture lands in the middle of the estate. However, most travelers just visit Santa Rita to see the Santa Rita Waterfall.
If you would like to spend a few nights inside Santa Rita Nature Reserve, I highly suggest booking a room in the beautiful and colorful finca you can find at the entrance of the Santa Rita Estate.
Double rooms are 130.000 COP per night and the kitchen of the Casa Santa Rita offers creole and traditional Colombian dishes.
Aside from that there is also a camp ground in the middle of the estate where you can pitch your tent for 25.000 COP per night. There are toilets and fire pits available in the camping area but you will need to bring all the other things yourself and the camping site is not accessible by car.
When you stay at the finca or the camping area, you can roam the estate freely and don’t need to pay the entrance fee.
While staying at the finca is a lovely experience, most travelers visit Santa Rita Natural Reserve on a half-day trip from Salento. I find it a bit sad that the estate often is referred to as solely ‘the Santa Rita Waterfall’ in other blogs because it’s so much more than that!
There are various hiking trails in the reserve and it takes much longer than just half a day if you want to walk around the whole estate. Unfortunately, when we visited, the rain started to pour down heavily and we needed to skip the trail to the Barranquero waterfall because of that.
Even though we weren’t able to cover all the trails completely, here is a rundown of my experience visiting the Santa Rita estate and what you can expect from a visit.
As you arrive at the entrance of the Santa Rita Reserve in Boquia, you will be greeted by a friendly man who handles the payments. As we arrived, we got an introduction to the estate from the man and he showed us the various trails and waterfalls on a map.
We were handed an orange bracelet as a proof that we paid the entrance fee and were directed to the right-hand side of the finca to start our hike.
This is also the place where you can find clean toilets to use. There are other toilets near the Santa Rita waterfall but they are not well-kept and a bit dirty.
If you would opt to hike all the trails inside the Santa Rita Natural Reserve, allow at least four hours to do this if you have a good level of fitness.
The trails that lead to and from the Santa Rita waterfall are pretty easy to walk on but the trail that goes to the top of the mountains is much harder and will involve some serious climbing.
There is no indication on the maps at the reserve how much miles or kilometers the trails encompass but four hours is what you will need at least to cover all the trails without making any stops.
Ideally, if you arrive around 9 A.M., you can walk to the Santa Rita waterfall and do the hike to the top of the mountain before lunch, have a picnic and spend the afternoon at the swimming pools before hiking back to Casa Santa Rita.
There are three main trails inside the Santa Rita Natural Reserve and they are all connected with each other. The Sendero Antonio is the most logical trail that you can pick to start your hike. It runs from Casa Santa Rita to the Santa Rita Waterfall and takes about 50 minutes to walk.
Since there are rivers crisscrossing the landscape you will encounter some bridges at the end of the trail and you will also pass by one of the tunnels that were constructed in the previous century to build a railway.
Hiking trail El Silencio to the top of Santa Rita Reserve
At the end of the trail, you will arrive at a small picnic area where you can find toilets and some benches. It seems like this used to be a spot where you could buy snacks and drinks (there were signs hanging up saying tinto and obleas) in the past but it was deserted when we arrived and looked pretty run down.
This picnic area is the place where all the trails meet each other and where you can choose how to continue your exploration of the reserve. The hiking trail that goes up to the mountain and passes by the swimming holes is called Sendero El Silencio. You can access it by crossing the bridge that you can see in front of the snack shack or by taking the trail that starts at the back of the snack stand.
The third trail is called Sendero Alegria and is an alternative path to Sendero Antonio. It leads back to Casa Rita but it runs to the other side of the valley.
This trail should pass by another waterfall, the ‘Cascada Barranquero’, and a few more tunnels. It is the trail that we skipped because of the heavy rainfall. It looked smaller and less trodden than the Antonio trail so we opted to hike back the way we came to avoid any unexpected inconveniences due to the rain.
Just a short walk from the picnic area, you can find the Santa Rita Waterfall. Even though it’s a rather small waterfall, it is a nice reward to see this beautiful natural wonder after hiking for an hour.
Waterfall Santa Rita Salento
To reach the waterfall, you will need to cross a suspension bridge which adds charm and adventure, but note that the bridges can be slippery and could use an upgrade.
Another bridge in front of the waterfall allows you to walk over the river to have a better view of the waterfall. We arrived early and there were only three other people in the reserve in the morning but be aware that this serene place can get packed in the afternoon.
The swimming holes are located on the Sendero El Silencio trail, a short hike away from the picnic area. To find them, start walking the El Silencio trail behind the snack shack and you should arrive at the swimming holes in less than 10 minutes.
Swimming holes and informational sign
There are various places where you can enter the water and the pools provide a refreshing break from all the hiking. At the time of my visit, there were people in the water but I found that the weather wasn’t good enough for taking a dip.
The water is cold, to say the least, and this was also the point during our hike when it starting raining!
Although there seemed to be a shack where you could buy snacks and drinks at the picnic area inside the nature reserve, today it was abandoned and looked run down.
The only place where you can buy snacks and drinks, or even a full meal if that’s what you are after, is at Casa Santa Rita. They serve things like water, beer, and other refreshments but also typical Colombian drinks like hot chocolate with cheese.
The best time to visit Santa Rita Nature Reserve is during the dry season, which runs from December to March. This period of the year offers the best chances of clear skies and less rainfall, making it ideal for hiking and enjoying the outdoor activities available in the reserve, such as visiting the waterfall and exploring the swimming holes.
As a result, this is also the time of the year when most travelers visit Salento, and, on top of that, it’s also the festive season for local Colombians. You can expect dozens of people here when you visit Santa Rita in December or January (I visited in January).
The best time of the year to visit therefore is March, when the holiday season in Colombia is over and the weather is still good. However, do keep in mind that this is an Andean rainforest and it rains most of the days, even in peak season.
The Santa Rita Reserve is open every day of the year from 7 A.M. to 4 P.M. The best thing to do is to go as early as possible to avoid the crowds in peak season.
The admission fee to the Natural Reserve is 10.000 COP per person and you will get an orange paper bracelet as proof of payment.
If you would come by car, there is a decent sized parking lot next to the finca and also ample room to park motorbikes and bicycles.
Chances are that, if you are visiting the Santa Rita Waterfall and the nature reserve in general, you are either staying in Salento or Boquia. Here is how to get to Santa Rita from Salento and Boquia!
There are two options to get from Salento to Santa Rita Nature Reserve, by foot or by bus. Taking a taxi is also a viable option but in my opinion, this is not really necessary since the nature reserve is only five kilometers away from the center of Salento.
Taking the bus is the most simple and easy solution to get from Salento to the Santa Rita Reserve. The bus station of Salento is located at the edge of town and provides buses to various locations, like Pereira, Armenia, and even Medellin.
A great thing is that all the buses that leave Salento need to pass by Boquia where Santa Rita is located. This means that you can practically take any bus at the bus station!
To figure out which bus is leaving next, just ask around and they will put you on one of the busses. The price for the bus ride from Salento to Boquia is only 3400 COP.
If you feel adventurous, you can also walk from Salento to Boquia. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to take the busy and quite dangerous road that the bus follows.
The best way to reach Boquia and Santa Rita Reserve from Salento on foot is by taking the Camino Nacional.
The Camino Nacional to Boquia starts at the end of Calle 7. The easiest way to orientate yourself is to walk in the direction of The Plantation House Travellers Hostel. This is where the Camino starts.
The road is decent at first and makes for a nice walking experience but turns to a rocky and slippery trail in the end that is quite steep. Luckily it doesn’t last too long.
After the rocky part of the Camino, you will arrive at the main road that leads from Salento to Boquia. From there, it’s only a 5-minute walk on the main road until you reach the turn-off for the Santa Rita Nature Reserve. You can find it on your right-hand side just after crossing the bridge over the river.
Getting to Santa Rita Natural Reserve from Boquia is pretty easy as the pathway to the reserve starts right in the center of town. From your accommodation, make your way to the bridge over the Quindio River.
The pathway to Santa Rita Nature Reserve start at the fruit kiosk next to the river. This is also the path you need to take to reach the Patasola Nature Reserve.
There you go! I hope you enjoyed this blog post about Santa Rita Nature Reserve near Salento. If you like Santa Rita Nature Reserve, also check out Kasaguadua Nature Reserve in Salento. You will love it!
Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or drop me a message through my contact page.
Also, don’t forget to check out my resources page with my favorite booking platforms and tips to start planning your trip. Additionally, have a look at my favorite travel gear if you want to pack more consciously!
ENJOY!
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Hi! I am Annelies and this is Travelers & Dreamers, a blog about conscious travel which means traveling in a more mindful way, with a positive impact on the world and yourself!
On this website, I cover different topics like slow travel, plant-based food guides, responsible travel, sustainable packing, eco-travel, and more!
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