It's taken me 11 years to get to the Colombian department of Casanare and it shouldn't have taken this long. But, under the careful guidance of husband and wife team of Julia Buschmann and Andres Gonzalez Perez (www.aventurecotours.com), I took my wife and three year old son out for a "Colombian Safari" in the plains, savannahs and wetlands of Casanare. 

On our bespoke experience, we took in the perfect combination of a slice of the authentic Llanos cowboy lifestyle and saw droves of birds and other wildlife including deer, caimans and chiguiros (capybara). 

Colombia is a country of contrasts and with an embarrassment of riches to which to travel and only recently is this being understood. Casanare has charm, style and substance and oozes all of them and anyone wishing to experience adventure, birdwatching and authenticity should make time to come here. I must also emphasise that at no point did we feel unsafe at all, just embraced by the warmth of our hosts and the destination as a whole. Visit Casanare!

Ivan Duque is the new president of Colombia and will run the country from 2018-2022, what does this mean for the peace agreement with the FARC, of which he has been openly critical and opposed to? 

Instead of striking dramatic blows against the accord, it’s more likely that Duque and his coalition will kill it through neglect. Casting the accord adrift, failing to take action and failing to spend money, will bring much the same end result as dramatically tearing it up.

However, Colombian president-elect Ivan Duque’s first challenge will be to unite the nation, something he has pledged to do whilst on the campaign trail, and recognize that eight million citizens voted for the left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro, the first time that a leftist candidate has achieved such a large following in Colombia.

It's that time again! The football world cup is upon us and it's in Russia and Colombia take a strong team to face the likes of Poland, Senegal and Japan in Group H. So, it's a great pleasure to have South American football expert and journalist Simon Edwards on the line to Colombia Calling from Medellin talking about what to expect from the Colombia team, the likes of Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez. 

And not only do we discuss Colombia's chances...should they make it through Group H, they may end up facing either Belgium or England in the knock out rounds, how very exciting, but, we also welcome back Peru to the World Cup after an irresistibly long absence and Panama to the World Cup for the first time in their history. 

So, while my enthusiasm for the World Cup this year is somewhat muted due to the finals being held in Russia and indeed the FIFA-gate scandal, Simon Edwards starts to motivate my enthusiasm once again for the beautiful game.