This work presents the history of the formation of some Antioquian elites from their relationship with nature in the Ciénaga de Ayapel (Córdoba). For eighty years, the hypnotic charm of the marsh has attracted several business families from Medellín to the wetland, who have destined this place for their rest and contemplation, making it their "paradise". In 2003, some members of these families founded Corpoayapel, an NGO that promotes social and ecological well-being in the municipality, under the idea of nature as development. In this way, the historical relationship of Antioquian businessmen with nature, through leisure and development, has allowed them to constitute themselves as elites, in the deepening of an inequality that has legitimized them to have the natural resources and other inhabitants of the swamp at their disposal. Based on this, this research reflects on the place of nature as a tool of power, central in the configuration of social hierarchies and inequalities. At the same time, it explores another chapter of the Antioquian presence in the Colombian Caribbean, the philanthropic and conservationist version of the "Antioquian colonization".