Location The ecoregion covers the higher land on both sides of the valley of the
Magdalena River in the Colombian
Andes. The river flows north between the
Eastern Ranges to the east and the
Central Ranges to the west, down to the Caribbean lowlands. It has an area of about . The ecoregion encloses the
Magdalena Valley dry forests ecoregion which in turn contains the upper Magdalena River, and the
Magdalena–Urabá moist forests ecoregion which contains the lower Magdalena River and extends across the lowlands north of the Magdalena Valley montane forests ecoregion. Sections of
Northern Andean páramo cover the highest land beside and within the ecoregion. To the west, the ecoregion merges into the
Cauca Valley montane forests on the other side of the Cordillera Central, and to the east it merges into the
Cordillera Oriental montane forests. In the far south the ecoregion transitions into the
Eastern Cordillera Real montane forests.
Terrain The rocks of the Eastern Ranges are sedimentary in origin, while the central range is highly volcanic and
metamorphic. Soils are very diverse, giving rise to diverse flora. The
Serranía de San Lucas rises in the center of the Magdalena Medio. The Magdalena River drains north to the Caribbean. From south to north the main tributaries are the
Suaza,
Saldaña,
Sumapaz,
Chicamocha,
Carare,
Cauca and its tributary the
Nechí.
Climate At a sample location at , the
Köppen climate classification is Af: equatorial; fully humid. Mean temperatures range from in October to in March. There are rainy seasons from April to June and from October to December. At the sample location the total yearly rainfall is about . Monthly rainfall rises from in January to in May, falls to in July, then rises again to in October. == Ecology ==