Colombia Wild Magic

This novel editorial essay, which based on the original video of the documentary Colombia: Wild Magic and using its images for the first time in a large-format book, displays the impressive biodiversity of the country, while warning about the threats it faces, with the spirit to generate environmental awareness that, through education, promotes a national commitment to its defense.

The route of more than 125,000 kilometers—from the Caribbean to the Amazon, from the Pacific to the Llanos, adding to this the island territories—reveals more than 20 ecosystems full of life and a country that many had not suspected. And it is explainable: by living there, we often forget that it is home to the second largest biodiversity on the planet.

Like the movie, the book is read from surprise to surprise. Birds and hammerhead sharks in Malpelo and Gorgona; irruption of crabs in Providencia; humpback whales in Utría; chigüiros, jaguars and anacondas in the Amazon; colossal crocodiles in the Orinoco; condors in Cocuy and Puracé; birds and frogs in the rainy jungle of Chocó; chromaticism in Caño Cristales; sudden tepuis, unpublished paintings and suspicions of cultures not yet seen in Chiribiquete. And in the Sierra Nevada, Nabuzimake, the sacred town of the Arhuacos.

That is the Colombia that we show to reaffirm our affection and to be able to defend it from the abusive exploitation of its timber, the harmful illicit crops, the destructive illegal mining, the infamous wildlife trafficking, the merciless destruction of its forests.

The result of interdisciplinary work, this project — which added an entire Colombian component of music, voices, texts and experience — should bear fruit. We therefore hope that this book benefits our nature.