Nevado del Huila Volcano

Nevado del Huila, a massive stratovolcano, is the highest of Colombia's active volcanoes, reaching a height of more than 5365 meters above sea level. Located in the departments of Cauca, Huila and Tolima on the axis of the Cordillera Range in the jurisdiction of the municipalities. It is built inside the caldera, has an elongated shape, topped with ice.

This volcano was considered dormant, there was only one explosive eruption in the XVI century, which was not recorded in historical time, until the recent awakening, in early 2007. The eruption caused minor tremors, thus began the descent of landslides into the Paez River, raised the water level along the Magda Nevado del Huila River. But no one was injured in the area around the volcano and began to evacuate residents of nearby villages. Then followed by the next earthquake in 2008, the Colombian authorities declared a “yellow” alarm, which then turned into “orange”, and then into red – this meant that an eruption could occur on any day of the week. 15,000 people were evacuated. But over time, the activity of the volcano decreased and the alert level dropped to orange.

Nevado del Huila, the highest peak of the Andes, is home to eagles, condor, deer, rabbits, spectacle bears and others. In the volcanic area, a lot of desert vegetation, especially grasses. In addition to the generous landscape, there is a wealth of water, rivers and streams that flow from the snow line along the ridge of the volcano.