Gateway to the Llanos — joropo music, capybaras, and Colombia's wild eastern plains
Villavicencio is the capital of Meta department, sitting at the foot of the Andes where the mountains abruptly meet the vast flat Llanos — the Colombian-Venezuelan grassland savanna that covers a third of the country. It's the departure point for wildlife safaris in the biodiverse Llanos, where anacondas, caimans, capybaras, giant anteaters, and hundreds of bird species roam freely. The city itself is famous for joropo music and the Festival Internacional del Joropo, Colombia's most passionate celebration of Llanero folk culture.
Villavicencio was founded in 1840 as a cattle-ranching settlement for the Meta plains, replacing smaller earlier missions. For most of its history it was a remote agricultural frontier town; the road to Bogotá through the mountains (now a spectacular 4-hour drive or 30-minute flight) kept it isolated. The late 20th century was brutal — the Llanos were a major theatre of guerrilla activity, with FARC and paramilitaries fighting over territory and coca-growing areas. The 2016 peace agreement transformed the region; investment and tourism have grown dramatically as the Llanos opened up.