Bogota Savannah

The Savannah of Bogotá is a high plateau located in the center of Colombia on the eastern cordillera of the Colombian Andes. It is on the southern part of a larger plateau called Altiplano Cundiboyacense that rises to an average altitude of 2600 mts (8500 ft) above the see level.

This plateau is crossed from north to south by the Bogotá River, which at the southwestern edge of the plateau forms the spectacular Tequendama Falls (Salto Tequendama). Other rivers, tributaries of the Bogotá river, form smaller valleys with very fertile soils dedicated to agriculture and cattle-breeding.

History

At the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors the region was inhabited by the Muisca people who lived in hundreds of villages scattered across the plateau. These villages were individually ruled by chiefs (caciques) who at the same time paid tribute to the Zipa, as they called their king. Once the Muisca rulers were defeated, the Spaniards engaged in the construction of Spanish style towns to replace all the indigenous villages and to force the Indians to live like the Spaniards. The majority of those villages kept their indigenous names, some of them were slightly modified on time, like Suacha which became Soacha, Hyntiba to become Fontibón and Bacatá that became Bogotá.

Cities

The main cities of the Savannah of Bogotá, in addition to the capital city of Bogotá are: Mosquera, Madrid or Serrezuela, Funza, Facatativá, Subachoque, El Rosal, Tabio, Tenjo, Cota, Chía, Cajicá, Zipaquirá, Nemocón, Sopó, Tocancipá, Gachancipá, Sesquilé, Chocontá and Guatavita.

Climate

The average temperature of the plateau is 14°C, but this could oscillate between -10°C and 24ºC. The dry and rainy seasons alternate frequently during the year. The dry months are December, January, February and March. During the rainy months the temperature tends to be more stable with variations between 9°C and 20°C. June, July and August are the months that present the largest variations of temperature and during the morning there could be presence of frost that could have negative impact on the agriculture. Hail or ice storms are also common.

There is a system of swamps (humedales) that regulate the soil moisture acting like sponges for the rain waters. The most important swamps are La Conejera, El Burro, Jaboque, Santa María del Lago, Tibabuyes, Córdoba and Guaymaral.