The El Dorado Bird Nature Reserve was created on March 31, 2006, based on the urgency of conserving one of Colombia's most fragile and important ecosystems, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, habitat for a large number of animal species and unique plants of this particular ecosystem.

It is located on the Cuchilla de San Lorenzo, in the northwestern sector of the Sierra Nevada, town of Minca. It comprises an area of ​​700 hectares, in an altitudinal range between 900 and 2600 m.s.m.
It has a high number of endemic species of birds and amphibians threatened with extinction, it is also one of the main forested redoubts of the Sierra Nevada, habitat of the Santa Marta Parakeet (Pyrrhura viridicata) , species listed as endangered .

For such as these values, the reservation is listed as a place for Zero Extinction as a AZE Site and a Important area for the conservation of birds AICA.

There are many priority sites for conservation in the world, but there is one internationally recognized by more than sixty organizations through the Alliance for Zero Extinction , as the most important for its extreme conservation of endemic and endangered species of birds and amphibians: the Cuchilla de San Lorenzo, in the Sierra Nevada.
It is a mountainous arm that stands only ten or fifteen kilometers from the urban centers of Santa Marta and is a true natural paradise.

It has a high number of endemic species of fauna and flora threatened with extinction; In addition, the preserved forests benefit the three most endangered bird species of the Santa Marta Sierra Nevada: the Santa Marta Parakeet (Pyrrhura viridicata), the Santa Marta Flycatcher (Myiotheretes pernix) and the hummingbird Saber Wing of Santa Marta (Campylopterus phainopeplus).
The Reserve is part of the Chundúa District of the Biogeographic Province of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and of an Area of Birth Endemismo(EBA 036).
This site also protects important areas for more than 40 species of migratory birds such as the warbler warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) and the cerulean warbler (Dendroica cerulea).

In addition to birds, amphibians, butterflies, plants and other groups also show exceptional levels of endemism. One example is the San Lorenzo Harlequin Frog (Atelopus nahumae), classified as critically endangered.

The reserve is made up of forests in different successional states, as well as mostly intact forests. The vegetation is typically subtropical wet forest riparian in the lower part, towards the Gaira River Basin, with dominance of species of Ficus, Guarea, Poulsenia, Myrsine, Vismia. Trichospermum and Licania in the woodland; Subandean forests with characteristic trees of Ficus spp., Chrysophyllum sp, Sloanea sp., and a high epiphytism, towards the middle part, and typical vegetation of edges in the upper part represented by high Andean elements such as Paragynoxys, Escallonia, Hesperomeles, Ceroxylon and Brunellia .
From the 2,300 m of elevation upwards, the abundance and dominance of the Chusquea scandens bamboo is remarkable.

Route to get by vehicle