Colombia has a law from the 1970's that it is illegal to take
photographs for commercial use in national parks. Last year I
visited PNN Tayrona and PNN Sierra Nevada with my 300mm f/4 lens
and beanbag, and didn't have any problems. This year when I
entered Tayrona with my tripod, 300mm f/2.8 lens and backpack
full of accessories, my equipment was carefully scrutinized. The
police search at the entrance seemed to focus on camera
equipment; the officer grabbed my backup camera out of the
luggage, opened the case, and examined it. The law was then
explained to me, and we insisted we were not taking pictures for
commercial use, and were allowed to enter. Three times my wife
and I were stopped by the police. The second time we had to
present our passports, and the police took photos of my camera
equipment, and we were delayed for some time. The third time I
was told to put the equipment away, after which we left the park.
Luckily we had just a few hours more planned. In all cases we
were told we needed a permit from Santa Marta, and that my camera
was obviously 'commercial use' and illegal.

Although I have sold photos, I don't think by any legal or tax
definition I am a professional. I wanted to visit PNN Los
Flamencos next, and didn't want to be hassled. My wife whose
Spanish is better than mine took it upon herself to go to the Santa Marta
'Ministerio de Ambiente', or environmental ministry. She had no
luck there; at one point she was told that I could not use a
tripod in a national park. We found a form online for getting
permission to take commerical photos in national parks, and
finally when we called a main Bogota number, we found someone who
told us we did not have to have a permit, that all we needed to
do was not use the photos commercially. The person also expected
us to send high resolution copied of the photos to them, and give
them the right to use them as they wished. I actually wouldn't
have any problems with that, if those are the rules, so plan to
make the photos available to the Colombian government.