Colombia Geography, Climate & Nature

Geography

Colombia sits in north-western South America, with insular regions in North America, bordered by the Caribbean to the north, Venezuela to the east and Brazil to the south-east. It is one of only two South American countries with coastline on both the Atlantic and the Pacific, the other being Chile.

Five natural regions

Colombia classifies its own geography into five: the Andes, shared with Ecuador and Venezuela; the Pacific coast, shared with Panama and Ecuador; the Caribbean coast, shared with Venezuela and Panama; los llanos, the eastern plains, shared with Venezuela; and the Amazon, shared with Venezuela, Brazil, Peru and Ecuador.

Three cordilleras

Near the Ecuadorian border the Andes divide into three distinct, roughly parallel chains running north-east almost to the Caribbean Sea, reaching over 5,700 metres with permanently snow-covered peaks. The Cordillera Occidental is moderately high, with peaks to about 4,670 metres; the Cauca River valley, an important agricultural region with several large cities on its edges, separates it from the massive Cordillera Central, where several snow-clad volcanoes rise above 5,180 metres. The elevated basins and plateaus between the ranges have a moderate climate that supports comfortable living and, in many places, two harvests a year — which is the reason the population sits in the mountains.

The north, which is its own thing

Two northern regions sit outside that cross-section: the Caribbean coastal lowlands, mostly swampy, whose reed-filled marshes Colombians call ciénagas; and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, an isolated massif rather than part of the Andes. The Guajira Peninsula in the north-east is semi-arid and is occupied primarily by Indigenous peoples.

Páramo

Colombia has more páramo than any country in the world — the high, wet, treeless zone above the Andean forest — and more than 60 per cent of that ecosystem is here. It is the country's water tower, and the reason Bogotá has any.

The ecosystems count

The country contains 311 types of coastal and continental ecosystem, and hosts two global biodiversity hotspots, the Tropical Andes and Tumbes–Chocó–Magdalena.

Verified against Wikipedia, September 2026.

Climate Patterns

Colombia’s climate is tropical, varying with altitude, temperature, humidity, winds and rainfall across its natural regions, and it spans tropical rainforest, savanna, steppe, desert and mountain climates. Proximity to the equator means temperature depends almost entirely on elevation rather than time of year — each region keeps roughly the same temperature all year, and “seasons” here mean wet or dry rather than hot or cold.

The three zones Colombians actually use

People describe the country by altitudinal zone. Below about 900 metres is the tierra caliente, the hot zone, where temperatures sit above 24 °C — and 82.5 per cent of Colombia’s total area lies in it. Between roughly 900 and 2,000 metres is the tierra templada, the temperate zone, about 8 per cent of the country: the lower slopes of the Cordillera Oriental and Central and most of the intermontane valleys, including Medellín at 1,487 metres and Cali at 1,030, where rainfall is moderate and the mean annual temperature runs 19 to 24 °C. Above that, to about 3,500 metres, is the tierra fría, the cold zone — where Bogotá is, cool and spring-like all year at roughly 8 to 20 °C.

The wettest place on earth is here

Rainfall in the hot zone is heaviest in the Pacific lowlands and parts of eastern Colombia, where rain is almost a daily occurrence and rainforest predominates. Precipitation exceeds 7,600 millimetres a year across most of the Pacific lowlands, making it one of the wettest regions in the world — and the highest average annual precipitation anywhere on earth is estimated to be at Lloró, in Colombia, at 13,299 millimetres. That is thirteen metres of rain a year.

The other extreme is in the same country: on the leeward side of the Guajira Peninsula, the Uribia station records 350 millimetres a year, the lowest in Colombia.

Two wet seasons, not one

Rainfall across most of the Andean interior follows a bimodal pattern — two wetter stretches, roughly April to May and October to November, and two drier ones — while the Amazon and the Pacific coast see rain nearly year-round. Lower-altitude cities such as Cartagena stay hot and humid all year, rarely dropping below 25 °C even at night.

Habitats & Biodiversity

Colombia has the second-highest biodiversity in the world and is one of seventeen megadiverse countries. Around 63,000 species are registered — between 63,000 and 71,000 depending on the count — of which about 14 per cent, some 8,800 species, are endemic. The country contains 311 types of coastal and continental ecosystem.

Where it comes first in the world

Colombia holds first position worldwide for orchids and for birds, second for plants, amphibians, butterflies and freshwater fish, third for palms and reptiles, and fourth for mammal diversity. It also has more páramo — high, wet, treeless Andean moorland — than any country on earth, and more than 60 per cent of that Andean ecosystem lies here. The páramo is what feeds Bogotá's water and is the thing most visitors walk through without knowing it has a name.

Two hotspots and five biosphere reserves

The country hosts two global biodiversity hotspots — the Tropical Andes and Tumbes–Chocó–Magdalena — and belongs to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves with five reserves of its own. Since 1998 the Humboldt Institute has been collecting biodiversity samples; by 2014 it held 16,469 samples representing about 2,530 species across 1,289 genera and 323 families.

What is going

The pressure is habitat loss, urbanisation, deforestation and overfishing. A 2001 study put forest loss at 260,000 hectares a year. Around 1,300 species are critically endangered, and 509 species have been introduced, 22 of them classified as invasive.

Five regions, five biologies

Colombia classifies its geography into five natural regions: the Andes, shared with Ecuador and Venezuela; the Pacific coast, shared with Panama and Ecuador; the Caribbean coast, shared with Venezuela and Panama; los llanos or plains, shared with Venezuela; and the Amazon, shared with Venezuela, Brazil, Peru and Ecuador. Each is a different set of species, and the distance between two of them can be an afternoon.

Wildlife & Birds

The short version: nowhere has more bird species than Colombia, and nowhere has more orchids. Those are first places in the world, not regional ones, and they come from the same cause — a country that stacks Amazon lowland, Pacific rainforest, Caribbean dry forest, three separate Andean ranges and the páramo above them into one territory, with valleys deep enough to isolate populations from each other.

The numbers

Around 63,000 species registered, about 8,800 of them endemic — roughly one in seven found nowhere else. First in the world for orchids and birds; second for plants, amphibians, butterflies and freshwater fish; third for palms and reptiles; fourth for mammals. Second-highest overall biodiversity of any country on earth, behind Brazil, in a country a tenth of the size.

Where to look

The two biodiversity hotspots are the Tropical Andes and Tumbes–Chocó–Magdalena — the latter being the wet Pacific side, one of the rainiest places on the planet and the least visited part of the country. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta rises from the Caribbean coast to snow in about forty kilometres and is an isolated massif, which is exactly the condition that produces endemics. The páramo, above the tree line in the Andes, holds plants found at no other altitude and more of it exists here than anywhere else.

The pressure

About 1,300 species are critically endangered, forest loss was running at 260,000 hectares a year as of a 2001 study, and 509 introduced species include 22 classed as invasive. Habitat loss, urbanisation, deforestation and overfishing are the named causes.

No species list beyond what the sources opened for this page support is asserted here.

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Sources & verification Covers the sourced claims on this page.

Checked against Wikipedia — Colombia classifies its geography into five natural regions: the Andes, the Pacific coast, the Caribbean coast, the Llanos and the Amazon; it is one of only two South American countries with both a Caribbean and a Pacific coastline, Near the Ecuadorian frontier the Andes divide into three distinct roughly parallel cordilleras extending north-eastward almost to the Caribbean Sea, with altitudes over 5,700 metres and permanently snow-covered peaks, and the elevated basins and plateaus have a moderate climate enabling two harvests a year in many places, The Cordillera Occidental reaches about 4,670 metres, the Cauca River valley with several large cities on its borders separates it from the massive Cordillera Central, and several snow-clad volcanoes in the Cordillera Central rise above 5,180 metres, The Caribbean coastal lowlands are mostly swampy with marshes Colombians call ciénagas, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an isolated massif in the north outside the Andean cross-section, and the Guajira Peninsula is semiarid and occupied primarily by Indigenous peoples, Colombia is the country with the most páramos in the world and more than 60 per cent of that Andean ecosystem lies within it, and it contains 311 types of coastal and continental ecosystem, Colombia hosts two biodiversity hotspots, the Tropical Andes and Tumbes–Chocó–Magdalena, Colombia has the second-highest biodiversity in the world, with around 63,000 species registered as of 2021 of which 14 per cent are endemic, and occupies first position worldwide in number of orchids and birds, second in plants, amphibians and freshwater fish, third in palm trees and reptiles, In 2020, according to the Colombian Biodiversity Information System, 63,303 species were registered in the country of which more than 8,800 are considered endemic, and Colombia occupies first position in the world in orchid and bird species, second in plants, amphibians, butterflies and freshwater fish, third in palm and reptile species and fourth in mammalian biodiversity, Colombia is one of seventeen megadiverse countries, contains 311 types of coastal and continental ecosystems, has between 63,000 and 71,000 species registered with 8,803 endemic representing near 14 per cent of the total, and is the country with the most páramos in the world with more than 60 per cent of that Andean ecosystem, Colombia hosts two biodiversity hotspots, the Tropical Andes and Tumbes–Chocó–Magdalena, and is part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves with five biosphere reserves, Colombia's biodiversity is at risk mainly because of habitat loss, urbanisation, deforestation and overfishing; a 2001 study put forest loss at 260,000 hectares a year, around 1,300 species are critically endangered, and 509 species are introduced of which 22 are classified as invasive, Since 1998 the Humboldt Institute for Biological Resources has been collecting biodiversity samples, and as of 2014 it held 16,469 samples representing around 2,530 species of 1,289 genera and 323 families, Colombia classifies its geography into five natural regions — the Andes, Pacific coast, Caribbean coast, Llanos and Amazon, Colombia has the second-highest biodiversity in the world, first position worldwide in number of orchids and birds, second in plants, amphibians and freshwater fish, third in palms and reptiles, and around 63,000 species registered of which 14 per cent are endemic, More than 8,800 of Colombia's registered species are endemic, and the country ranks fourth in the world for mammalian biodiversity, Colombia hosts two biodiversity hotspots, the Tropical Andes and Tumbes–Chocó–Magdalena, and has more páramo than any country in the world, Around 1,300 Colombian species are critically endangered, forest loss was 260,000 hectares a year according to a 2001 study, and 509 introduced species include 22 classified as invasive, with habitat loss, urbanisation, deforestation and overfishing the main causes, The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an isolated massif in northern Colombia, outside the Andean cordilleras, The climate of Colombia is tropical, presenting variations within its natural regions and depending on altitude, temperature, humidity, winds and rainfall, and it includes tropical rainforest, savanna, steppe, desert and mountain climates, Below 1,000 metres is the warm altitudinal zone where temperatures are above 24 °C, and about 82.5 per cent of Colombia's total area lies in it, with the temperate altitudinal zone between about 1,000 and 2,000 metres, Colombians customarily describe their country by climatic zones: below 900 metres is the hot zone or tierra caliente, 900 to 1,980 metres the temperate zone or tierra templada, and 1,980 to about 3,500 metres the cold zone or tierra fría, Rainfall in the hot zone is heaviest in the Pacific lowlands and parts of eastern Colombia where rain is almost a daily occurrence and rainforest predominates, precipitation exceeds 7,600 millimetres annually in most of the Pacific lowlands making it one of the wettest regions in the world, and the highest average annual precipitation in the world is estimated to be at Lloró, Colombia, with 13,299 millimetres, Areas on the leeward side of the Guajira Peninsula receive generally light rainfall, and the annual rainfall of 350 millimetres recorded at the Uribia station there is the lowest in Colombia, The temperate zone covers about 8 per cent of the country, includes the lower slopes of the Cordillera Oriental and Cordillera Central and most of the intermontane valleys with Medellín at 1,487 metres and Cali at 1,030, and there rainfall is moderate with a mean annual temperature between 19 and 24 °C (September 2026).