GORGONA NATIONAL PARK, COLOMBIA

A devil´s island of the Pacific, Isla Gorgona served between 1960 and 1984 as a prision mostly for Colombian political criminals. Today, creepers and mosses have reclaimed the ruins, and the former adminstrative quertes have metamorphosed as an eco-hotel.

The isle 22 miles offshore is named for its large number of venomous snakes that slither about the jungle and hotel grounds. For this reason rubber boots are necessity on trails and anywhere after dark. Measuring 5 miles long by 1.5 miles wide, the densely forestd island takes up only 3 percent of the park, the rest is a marine reserve. Humpback whales frequent the warm waters that surround the isle. Most visitors come for encouters whit whales, to view marine turtles nesting, or to dive the superb corals reefs.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVEL COLOMBIA.