Colombia’s Paradise

Our boat departed on a cloudy morning, shortly after sunrise. We were 45km from mainland Colombia when the first humpback whale breached the surface, exposing its massive white underside before splashing back down with an impressive display of power and grace.

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Behind us, the sun showed itself for the first time, but an ominous cloud still hovered above the island in the distance. Clouds always seemed to loom overhead, our driver explained, and I imagine that the darkened skies served as the final harbinger of doom for the condemned souls sent to Isla Gorgona’s inescapable jungle prison between 1959 and 1982, before the government closed it and turned it into a national park in 1985.

Dozens of fresh water streams spread across Gorgona like arteries, the lifeblood of an island teeming with flora and fauna. Stand somewhere for a few minutes and it is difficult to avoid seeing something move. Crabs sprint across the beach before crawling back into small holes in the sand. Lizards drop down from trees. Sloths lumber in the branches high above. Eagle rays, turtles and reef sharks whirl around in the sapphire sea.

But before it was a wildlife mecca, this 24sqkm volcanic island served as a formidable fortress that housed Colombia’s most violent criminals, with stone walls, barbed wire and prison guards acting as only the first line of defence. The 56km of rough, shark-infested waters and the venomous snakes for which the island is named usually put an end to any hope of escape.