'One of the harshest places on Earth': The 1960s green 'Utopia' that tried to reinvent the world

In an extreme environmental and political climate in the Colombian savannah, one maverick village has relied on its homegrown inventions to survive, down to adapting children's see-saws to draw water for the community. None of the village's inventions aren't patented, but they have nonetheless made their mark on the wider world.

Amid the vast, remote and sparsely populated plains of eastern Colombia, known as Los Llanos, about a day's drive from the capital Bogotá, an 80 sq km (31 sq mile) patch of luscious man-made forest flourishes. There, for over half a century, a small and self-sustaining community called Gaviotas has been defying all odds, thriving on the inhospitable land, helped by a myriad of quirky, futuristic inventions.

The pioneering technologies range from low-cost solar water heaters to a children's see-saw that doubles as a water pump, from edible forest gardening to biofuel. Some were inspired by traditional methods used by local indigenous communities, while others resulted from tireless, ingenious tinkering with the few available resources.

Once considered eccentric and outlandish, many of the village's inventions have stood the test of time. Initially developed in response to the village's very specific local needs, they have been successfully replicated elsewhere in Colombia and beyond. The philosophies born from these experiments have inspired other similar projects, and shown the world another way to approach sustainability. 

And yet, the village itself, in its idiosyncratic approach to life in a harsh landscape, remains almost unique.

"I don't understand why something so simple – so simple that Gaviotas has accomplished it in one of the harshest places on Earth – I don't understand why it's not being done elsewhere," says Paolo Lugari, who founded the community in the 1960s.    

As Gaviotas continues to adapt to a changing world, it also raises vital questions. How do you keep a sustainable community going in a world that shapeshifts so quickly? What does the community – and its ethos – win, and what does it lose, as it changes?

It was 1966 when Lugari, a 20-something Italian-Colombian from a prominent political family, travelled across Los Llanos by plane and was overcome by a fervent vision of creating a verdant, flourishing settlement here. For a couple of years following that first trip, he worked on the idea and recruited close ones who would build this community with him. 

Finally, in 1971, Lugari bought a plot of land in the Vichada province under the ownership of a non-profit foundation, and the motley crew of about 20 people founded a new settlement. They called it Gaviotas, meaning seagulls in Spanish, in honour of the bright white river birds flying over them as they built their new homes. 

From the beginning, they faced huge challenges. The climate in Los Llanos is notoriously brutal and ricochets between violent rains that flood the land and scorching sunshine. Over the years after their initial settlement, Los Llanos also became haunted by political violence, and different armed groups fighting for control of the land and profiting off drug trafficking and coca production.

But Lugari corralled people from different parts of his life. He travelled to Bogotá to recruit scientists and engineers, and persuaded young researchers to complete their theses by dreaming up sustainability projects in the savannah. He mingled with the nomadic, local indigenous communities and the llaneros, local farmers, offering them work. And by the late 1970s, the community grew to more than 200 self-sufficient inhabitants, Lugari says.

Living in 'right relation' with place

To carve out a life in these inhospitable conditions, the inhabitants of Gaviotas, including several newly graduated engineers, dreamed up a range of eco-friendly, low-cost and locally rooted solutions. Some ideas, such as ancestral longhouses and living quarters with roofs made from thick, thatched moriche palm fronds to withstand the rain and sun, came from the traditions of the indigenous Guahibo people, who had lived nomadically in Los Llanos long before the Gaviotas residents. From the Guahibo, the Gaviotans learned how to make nets and hammocks using the ribs of moriche leaves, how to extract a nutritious oil from the fruit, and how to craft canoes by digging them out of tree trunks.

To generate electricity, the Gaviotans relied on the scorching sun of the plains. To access drinking water, they crafted a variety of types of water pumps – including one that could reach 40m (130ft)underground, latching it to a children's seesaw to make the most of their playtime. Lightweight wind turbines, capturing the soft, fleeting gusts of tropical winds that characterise the Colombian plains, were designed by local engineers after 57 prototype trials and errors.

"It felt really safe, it felt very welcoming. It felt very like when you are living in a community, there is a huge sense of belonging and sense that you know everyone around you," says Natalia Gutierrez, who was born in Gaviotas in 1996.........

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