I had been struck by photographs of the Cerros de Mavicure rising above the forest and the Inírida River in eastern Colombia. The dark rock, exposed against an almost unbroken expanse of green, seemed unlike anywhere else I had visited in the Amazon. Last month, ahead of Mongabay Latam’s PUMA FEST in Bogotá, I finally had the chance to visit. I traveled with Daniela Quintero Díaz, Mongabay Latam’s investigations editor, and Oilber Díaz, a member of the Puinave people who guided us through the region. The three main hills, Mavicure, Mono and Pajarito, are outcrops of the Guiana Shield. They span two Indigenous territories. Mavicure, the hill visitors climb, lies within El Venado, while Mono and Pajarito are within El Remanso. Each territory has a nearby community of the same name. The hills are regarded as sacred by Indigenous peoples in the region. In Puinave tradition, they are connected to stories of creation, animals, family, and the rules governing relations between people and the natural world.  Cerros de Mavicure. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Dreyk, a member of the Cubeo people from the Venado community, led us up Mavicure. The trail crossed steep granite, with forest growing in narrow seams and pockets of soil. From higher ground, the scale of the landscape became clearer. The hills rose abruptly from the canopy, while the Inírida curved around them. We reached a viewpoint in time for a beautiful sunset. On the descent after dark, frogs and geckos appeared along the trail. Cerros…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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