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For over 2000 years, the native Muisca people performed a ritual in a small circular mountain lake located north of what is now Bogotá. In this ritual, the newly crowned Muisca tribal chief covered himself in gold dust and took a raft to the center of Lake Guatavita (Laguna de Guatavita). He then offered treasures made of gold to the gods by dumping them into the lake.
In Europe, rumors of this ritual grew and grew. The rumors turned from a ceremony into a place, into a city, a kingdom, and finally an empire – all made of gold. This rumor spurred several expeditions and cost the lives of countless people. That’s the very condensed version of the story of the Legend of El Dorado.
Visiting Lake Guatavita
To get closer to this legend, it’s possible to visit Lake Guatavita on a day trip from Bogotá. This lake, which was dredged and drained several times over the past few hundred years, is now heavily protected and part of a nature reserve, Guatavita Lake Natural Regional Reserve (Laguna de Guatavita Reserva Natural Regional).
Round trip transportation to the park can be purchased in the nearby town of Guatavita, just a half hour away. Lineas El Dorado sells tickets from a small tourist booth across from the Bullring (Plaza de Toros). Prices are reasonable and we were lucky to get on the last departure for the day at 2:30pm.
Admission to the park is COP$25,500 for foreigners and COP$18,000 for Colombian citizens and residents (as of February 2024). Tickets include a guided nature walk that lasts just over 90 minutes. Hours are 9am to 4pm daily except Mondays.
Guided Walk
The walk is fairly easy on a developed trail with some steep uphill for a short bit. The first stop is in a replica Muisca hut where the guide talks about the Muisca people and their culture and language. It gives a lot of background for what’s to come on the tour.
Next, we walked along a trail and started our ascent to the lake. The guide stopped at a few spots to lecture about the history of the park and the Legend of El Dorado while we were given an incredible view of the landscape.
Finally, we stopped at a few different lookouts each with stunning views of this magical lake. The guide lectured at each one about the ritual, attempts to dredge the lake, and recent history. We learned that in the past, backpackers would show up with metal detectors and other equipment in attempts to find gold. We also learned that the water level is more than 30% lower than it was in the past because of attempts to drain the lake. Nowadays, nobody is allowed to go near the lake and it’s monitored with 24-hour surveillance. It was a very impressive and interesting talk.
The tour finished with a short walk downhill to the exit. There, we found shuttles back to the park entrance or previously arranged transportation back to the town of Guatavita.
