Shamanic journey among the Kogi and Arhuaco peoples of Colombia: Tayrona wisdom
INNER SIGHTS / COLOMBIA
A rare shamanic immersion in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia.
This journey is a spiritual quest to meet several wise men, direct heirs of pre-Columbian tayrona culture, disappeared in the 15th century. The Kogis are the guardians of the northern slope of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the one facing the Atlantic Ocean and the Arhuacos, their close cousins watch over the southern slope, a land of high-altitude lakes dominated by Cristobal Colon Peak, Colombia’s highest point at 5,775 meters.
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Guiding principle
Practice this Native American wisdom: purification of our traveling soul, individual care for our generational lineage, meditations on original thought, clarification of our life path.
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Destination
North of Colombia
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Collection
Inner sights
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Duration
15 days / 14 nights
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Dates
From 17th to 31st 01/2026
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Guide
in English (and Spanish)
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Number of travellers
min.: 4 - max.: 8
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Price range
from €1,990 per person (excluding international flights)
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Learning level
Initiation
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Comfort level
Rustic
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Difficulty level
Moderate (maximum altitude: 2,200 m)
Program details day by day
We have chosen to break with the usual travel consumer habits by not sharing the day-by-day program with you, but rather a description of what awaits you, because we believe more in establishing a relationship of trust, from human to human. However, this detail may be communicated to you at a later date.
Encountering a culture unlike any other
Landing in Valledupar, in northern Colombia, we will spend our first night in Pueblo Bello before traveling by 4×4 to Nabusimake, the capital of the Arhuacos, perched at an altitude of 2,000 meters. There we will spend three days consulting with several mamos who live in seclusion in the mountains and are guardians of a kankurua, the house of the sacred fire.
After a day of transition in the plains to bypass the Sierra Nevada, we will travel up the Rio Don Diego valley to stay in Kogi territory, in a lodge surrounded by Tayrona platforms and temples. It is in this place steeped in history, on the banks of the river and conducive to meditation, that we will undertake a five-day spiritual retreat with a mamo native to this valley who has come down from the mountains especially for us.
Finally purified, we will then enter Tayrona Park, where we will be welcomed for three days by other Kogi families in charge of prayers to the sea. We will make pagamentos (offerings) with them to maintain the sacred balance of Tayrona territory. We will end our journey in the colorful city of Santa Marta.
Immerse yourself in shamanic practice
Among the Kogi and Arhuaco Indians, the universe is composed of nine superimposed worlds, and we inhabit the fifth one in the center. In this world, our thoughts must be ordered and sorted, with negative thoughts constantly rejected into the lower worlds. With the help of a mamo, in the early morning, sitting on a rock, through guided meditation, our bad thoughts and nightmares are locked away in cotton. It is the role of the shaman, the mamo, to make our bad thoughts disappear, to encourage the emergence of “unitary thinking” in the community, that which serves life, the life force, Mother Earth, abundance, and peace. To do this, he performs magical rituals and makes offerings to the stones, the oldest beings of wisdom on this planet.
At each meeting, we will have the opportunity to practice this Native American wisdom: purification of our traveling soul upon arrival, individual care for our generational lineage, meditations on original thought, clarification of our life path. These men of wisdom, some of whom spent the first nine years of their lives in darkness, as tradition dictates, have agreed to welcome us so that we can do the inner work necessary to become guardians of life ourselves.
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