Motorcycle Explorer Nov 2015 Issue 8 | Page 44

Snap Facts Caño Cristales– The river is commonly called the "River of Five Colors" or the "Liquid Rainbow" What Colours – yellow, green, blue, black, and especially red Geology- The quartzite rocks of the Serrania de la Macarena tableland formed approximately 1.2 billion years ago. They are a western extension of the Guiana Shield of Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil and belong to the oldest exposed rocks in the world. Caño Cristales is a fast river with many rapids and waterfalls. Many circular pits known as - giant's kettles, which have been formed by pebbles or chunks of harder rocks. one of these harder rock fragments falls into one of the cavities, it is rotated by the water current and begins to carve at the cavity wall and increases the dimensions of the pit. Wild Life - 420 species of birds 10 species of amphibians 43 species of reptiles 8 primates There are no fish in the river Cristales