Merida Catatumbo (2 days / 1 night)

1 Day: We leave Merida by jeep in the morning and passing through El Vigia where we will arrive in Puerto Concha. It's impressive how the landscape is changing in just two hours drive. From the mountains of Merida we arrive in the low-land of the region south of the Maracaibo lake.

Puerto Concha is a small village at the border of Rio Concha that lives mostly from catching crabs and other fine fish from the rivers and the lakes.

Here we eat a typical fisherman's meal, a real good one. After lunch we leave for Puerto Concha by boat and we follow the river for a 30 minutes drive to arrive at the Maracaibo lake. During the trip we enjoy the view of the typical vegetation where it is possibility to observe the red howler monkey and some of the river birds. Once we arrive at the big Maracaibo Lake we will find the first houses build on stilts one the water, and one of them is the National Park office where we announce our entrance. We will spend the night here.

We will cross the lake in a few hours in order to reach the Rio Catatumbo that we will follow, arriving at the amazing village on the water of: El Congo.

You will find a church, a school, some shops to buy beers and the only way to go from one house to the other is by boat. Here in this small world out of the real world we will enjoy a beer, and after that we head for the Inparques palafito, where we will spend the night, sleeping in hammocks.

Before we get asleep we have the possibility to see the famous (Relampago del Catatumbo), a bright but silent lightning.

2 Day: The second day we weak up early and after breakfast we leave for the back trip to Merida. We take advantage of the first hours of the day observe the wild monkeys living at the border of the river.

Options:

The first day we visit the region south of Merida between the mountains and El Vigia visiting some villages and coffee and sugar plantations. We then arrive in Puerto Concha in the afternoon, where we catch the boat and navigate on the river to the entrance of the Maracaibo Lake. We spend the night at the palafito of the National Park sleeping in hammocks. From here during the night we can observe El Relampago del Catatumbo.

The second day in the morning we visit the region of the coast of the Maracaibo lake by boat to observe birds and monkeys. In the afternoon we go back to Puerto Concha by boat and back to Merida in jeep.

(This is a shorter way to do this tour)

INCLUDED:

- All land- and water transports (vans or minibuses)

- All meals and refreshments

- 1 night in hammock on house on stilts .

- Bilingual, naturalist guide and driver.