The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the centre of the country. Reaching an altitude of just from the Caribbean coast, the Sierra Nevada is the highest coastal range in the tropics, and one of the highest coastal ranges in the world, being shorter than the Saint Elias Mountains in Canada. The Sierra Nevada encompasses about and serves as the source of 36 rivers. The range is in the Departments of Magdalena, Cesar and La Guajira.