The abandoned private islands of Colombian drug lords are rotting reminders of the once powerful multi-billion operations run by the likes of Pablo Escobar that supplied 30 percent of the world's cocaine.
Dotted around the waters of Islas Del Rosario, the islands were once the weekend escapes for the bosses of the infamous Medellin and Cali cartels where they brushed shoulders in their 1980s heydays of political power and international money laundering.
Now the swimming pools and mansions and gardens have been left to nature and are part of the booming 'Pablo Escobar tour' industry which has sprung up in Colombia in the years following the shrinking of the deadly cartels.
Dotted in the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean are the island homes of Colombian drug lords such as Pablo Escobar
Currently owned by the Government of Colombia, the centre piece of any tour to the coast off Cartagena is the mansion of Escobar, who was shot and killed by police during a chase to apprehend him in 1993.
Decaying and untended the properties of Pablo Escobar on his own private island are falling apart
This tropical themed property owned not by Escobar but another long dead or jailed drug lord is guarded by armed soldiers of the Colombian government
This small island despite being in the protected zone has attracted a squatter who is drying their washing
This enormous property on the shores of the Caribbean used to entertain the multi-millionaires of the Colombian drug world
Pablo Escobar's home once contained a nightclub which would have been the centre of the Western hemisphere's drug trade
Standing empty, the homes on the islands are rotting away to the elements
His pool, inlaid with an elaborate mosaic pattern, now contains dirty rainwater.
One thing remains of Escobar's mansion - the beautiful view out onto the shores of the Caribbean, which is now a summer vacation spot for the rich of Medellin, Colombia's second city and former centre of the country's booming drug's trade.
Visitors are reminded by tour guides that the jet-ski's and power boats they see now were once sea planes laden with drugs and money.
Escobar was brought down by a combination of pressure from the Colombian and U.S. Government's who entered into a devil's pact with the Cali cartel who wanted the flamboyant and popular drug lord out of the picture.
Pablo Escobar was a folk hero in parts of Colombia and was reputedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars before his death in 1993 in an escape attempt
This home is so extravagant that it is constructed from rare coral lifted from the Caribbean sea surrounding the islands
The drug lord would have spent a lot of time by this pool presumably
With their large imposing villa-style doors, Pablo Escobar would have entertained his political contacts at his Caribbean hide-away
Tours are now given around the islands as locals try to cash into the notoriety of the 1980s cocaine trade heyday
At one time in the 1980s this home would have been home to one of the richest and most powerful men in Colombia
The Cali cartel bombed one of Escobar's homes in 1992, since then this mansion and the other's have been left to rot after their owners were either killed or arrested after successive Colombian President's intent on cleaning up their country's reputation.
With reminders everywhere of the enormous wealth once possessed by the drug lords , Lake Gutape's abandoned holiday island homes also include properties owned by Escobar's brother, mother and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, the head of the Cali cartel.
And the irony is that now you can hire a kayak to paddle around waters that 20 years ago would have cost you your life just for being near.
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