File number: cac0033

© South American Pictures/ Mike Harding

Colombia.  The Tatacoa desert is a tiny area of about 300sq kms in southern Colombia. The central cordillera of the Andes mountains to the west causes a rain shadow effect and the vegetation is typically sparse with cactus and dry thorny bushes.  In this area known as El Cuzco there are many columns of eroded earth and soft rock.