The Tequendama Falls is a 132m high waterfall on the Bogotá River

Bogotá River

The Bogotá River is a major river of the Cundinamarca department of Colombia, crossing the region from the northeast to the southwest and passing along the western limits of Bogotá...

, located about 30 km southwest of Bogotá

Bogotá

Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

 in the municipality of San Antonio del Tequendama

San Antonio del Tequendama

San Antonio de Tena is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca....

. Circa 10000 BC, El Abra

El Abra

El Abra is an archaeological excavation site, located in the valley of the same name, east of the city of Zipaquirá, department Cundinamarca, Colombia; in the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, at an altitude of 2,570 m...

 and Tequendama were found to be the first permanent settlements in Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

.
One of the country’s major tourist attractions, the falls are located in a forested area 20 miles (32 km) west of Bogotá. The river surges through a rocky gorge that narrows to about 60 feet (18 m) at the brink of the 515-foot- (157-metre-) high falls. During the month of December the falls become completely dry. The falls, once a common site for suicides, may be reached by road from Bogotá.

According to Muisca

Muisca

Muisca was the Chibcha-speaking tribe that formed the Muisca Confederation of the central highlands of present-day Colombia. They were encountered by the Spanish Empire in 1537, at the time of the conquest...

 legend, the waterfall was created by Bochica

Bochica

Bochica is a figure in the mythology of the Muisca culture, which existed during the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores in areas comprising parts of present day Colombia and Panama...

, who used his staff to break the rock and release the water that covered the Bogotá Savannah. According to another legend, during the Spanish conquest in South America, in order to escape slavery the indigenous people of the area would jump off the Salto Del Tequendama and become eagles to fly to their freedom.