El Morro: Coleo, Canyons and Pilgrimage Trail
Accommodation in El Morro
El Morro combines a connection to the Llanos sport of Coleo with the Sendero Ecológico Virgen de la Peña. If you are looking for a hotel for a trip here, these different interests can provide a starting point for your plans: Coleo, the landscape along the Río Cravo Sur, or the trail’s religious connection to the Santuario.
Coleo in El Morro
The Manga de Coleo del Morro is a place in El Morro where the Llanos sport of Coleo is practiced. In this discipline, the rider tries to balance on horseback, grab the calf’s tail, and make the animal spin around its own axis. This movement is called a campana. The term therefore refers to the movement within the sport, not to Coleo as a whole.
Sendero Ecológico Virgen de la Peña
The Sendero Ecológico Virgen de la Peña runs alongside the Río Cravo Sur and passes through canyons with sheer walls more than 50 meters high. The trail is also connected to a religious pilgrimage route leading to the Santuario de la Virgen de la Peña. The river and canyons describe the landscape, while the connection to the Santuario gives the trail a religious dimension. The two highlights appeal to different interests: the Manga focuses on the Coleo event, while the Sendero brings together the river landscape, canyons, and pilgrimage route.
A 2022 description gives the Sendero’s length as 5.71 kilometers and its average duration as two hours. For planning, these figures answer different questions: the distance indicates the trail’s length, while the time gives an average for the excursion. The time is not a fixed walking duration for everyone. If the route changes, both figures may differ.
Access and surroundings of the Santuario
The two access options differ mainly in their endpoints. From the Corregimiento El Morro, an unpaved road runs 7.2 kilometers toward Labranzagrande to the El Ciego waypoint; from there, continue on foot toward the Santuario de la Virgen de la Peña. Another option follows the same unpaved road for 1.7 kilometers to the entrance of the Santuario de la Virgen de la Peña, where the hiking trail begins. The 7.2- and 1.7-kilometer figures refer to sections of the unpaved road; 5.71 kilometers, by contrast, is the length of the Sendero. The transitions also differ: one route continues on foot from El Ciego toward the Santuario, while the other starts the hiking trail at the Santuario entrance. Check current road conditions before setting out.
Near the Santuario de la Virgen de la Peña are small thermal springs that are believed to have healing properties. They add another point of interest in the Santuario’s surroundings to the site’s pilgrimage connection.
Discover more destinations: San Luis de Palenque, Yopal, Orocué, El Totumo, Maní, Aguazul, Monterrey, Pore
For the broader travel overview: Casanare.
