Birding in Ecuador Tour - 11 Days

After your arrival at Quito International Airport (2800 meters), your guide will welcome you and give you a briefing on the upcoming trip. Immediate transfer to your hotel near the airport and installation in your rooms. Depending on the arrival time, it will be possible to go for a stroll in the surroundings of the hotel and make our first observations of typical species of the inter-Andean valley. Dinner is at your own expense. Night in a charming Hacienda, Zaysant EcoLodge, in Tababela.

Included: Transfer, assistance and overnight stay.

After an early breakfast, we will take the short road leading to the Antisana Ecological Reserve. From a platform, we will scan with a telescope the nesting walls of the Condor, one of the most important populations of the country. We will then explore the high-altitude vegetation and bushes in search of high-andean hummingbirds and passerines and climb up to the Andean steppes called páramo. The diversity at this altitude (almost 4000 meters) is low, but the species visible here all present adaptations to this particular ecosystem.

Afterwards, a short walk along the lagoon of La Mica will allow us to observe some aquatic birds. We return in the early afternoon to the lower areas to have lunch around hummingbird drinking troughs and to try to observe one of the rarest mammals of this ecosystem: The Spectacled Bear. Arrival in Guango Lodge before nightfall, where you will have the opportunity to have some observations of hummingbirds around the feeders. Dinner and night in the charming Guango Lodge.

Included: All meals, transportation, specialized bilingual guide, overnight stay, entrance to visiting sites.

This morning we will have the choice between enjoying the hummingbird garden of the lodge or going to explore the super wet Páramo areas of the Cayambe Coca Reserve. Starting from the Papallacta Pass at more than 4000 meters of altitude, we will search for the main high-altitude species of Ecuador in the heart of a mosaic of ecosystems: temperate forest, super humid páramo, lagoons, elfin bushes and Polylepis woods. If the weather is good, we will go up to the antennas, at more than 4300 meters of altitude, in search of the most specialized species.

At the end of the afternoon, we will continue our descent along the eastern foothills. We will cross a wide altitudinal gradient, between elfin, high-Andean and cloud forests to reach our next lodge where we will spend two nights. Dinner and overnight at the charming San Isidro Lodge.

Included: All meals, transportation, specialized bilingual guide, overnight stay, entrance to visiting sites.

These high-altitude tropical forests are also called Cloud Forest because of a fairy fog that covers it for part of the day. This almost constant humidity allows the development of a vegetation rich in epiphytes, mosses, orchids, bromeliads, etc.... At first light we will join the hide, behind the Lodge to try to observe and photograph Antpittas and other rare birds. We will stay there for most of the morning.

During the afternoon we will taking a moment around the hummingbird feeders. After dinner we will try to observe an owl (Ciccaba sp.) which could be a new species for science. Dinner and overnight stay at the charming San Isidro Lodge.

Included: All meals, transportation, specialized bilingual guide, overnight stay, entrance to visiting sites.

Then it will be time to resume our long road towards the eastern foothills of the Cordillera. We will cross the Inter-Andean valley, climb up to the Papallacta pass and descend towards the upper Amazon to our next Lodge located in the buffer zone of the Sumaco National Park, in the middle of the Amazonian subtropical forests (1500 meters).

Located just 30 minutes from our lodge is the famous Cordillera de Guacamayos, this outlying ridge of the Andes makes up the lower part of the Antisana Reserve. A stone path, along the ridge, runs through an extensive and pristine cloud forest of the eastern Andes. This trail was apparently created by the Incas who used it to access the Amazonian lowlands. This natural and historical site has a large list of bird species, some of them very rare. Later, we will continue down to WildSumaco, making stops along the Loreto road to look for other complementary lowland species. In the late afternoon we will arrive at the WildSumaco reserve, where we will spend the next two hours at the base of Sumaco Volcano. Dinner and night in the charming WildSumaco Lodge.

Included: All meals, transportation, specialized bilingual guide, overnight stay, entrance to visiting sites.

The Wild Sumaco is one of these isolated reserves, which even if little known by the general public, presents an extremely interesting richness of bird sanctuaries. The conservation and research projects carried out on site have documented the presence of a large number of species that are normally rare and difficult to observe. Its lodging infrastructure and numerous trails allow access to an ecosystem that has been isolated for a long time because it is stuck between the Amazonian foothills and the high Andes. It is therefore at the confluence of these two very different habitats that we will evolve over the next two days. We will explore roadsides, subtropical humid forest trails and forest creeks. We will also spend some time around the watering areas and on the observation platforms in front of the Lodge. Dinner and night in the charming WildSumaco Lodge.

Included: All meals, transportation, specialized bilingual guide, overnight stay, entrance to visiting sites.

Today we will continue our descent towards the lower Amazon to the Amazonian city of Coca (350 meters) (Francisco de Orellana) in the province of Napo. From the docks on the Napo River, the most important Ecuadorian affluent of the Amazon, we will embark on our motorised canoe, for a descent of about three hours, our first immersion in this green universe. After arriving at the edge of the Yasuni National Park on the territory of the Sani community, we will transfer to smaller canoes and then row along black water canals to the lagoon on the edge of which the lodge is located (250 metres).

After settling into the spacious cabins, our guide will give us a presentation of the site and a briefing on the upcoming stay. This day is essentially a travel day, but along the Napo river (riverine and "white water" ecosystem) followed by the narrow "black water" canals and around the lagoon we will have the opportunity to observe our first Amazonian species. Dinner and overnight stay in the charming Sani lodge.

Included: All meals, transportation, specialized bilingual local guide of the Amazon, overnight stay

After an early morning hearty breakfast, we will go by rowing canoe and then by motorised canoe to the banks of the Napo River. From there we will visit two "saladeros": clay cliffs covered with minerals that several species of Psittacidae come to ingest to facilitate their digestion (a diet composed almost entirely of acidic fruits and vegetables). The first saladero is located directly on an open bank of the Napo, the second is inside the forest and is more in the shape of a cave. It attracts very different species from the first one. After this incredible spectacle, we will take a path in Terra Firme very close to the second saladero in search of the species characteristic of this ecosystem that is never flooded.

After lunch, we will go for a motorized canoe ride along the Napo River to look for some interesting "white water" riverside species (name given because of the light brown colour of the great Amazonian rivers that carry silt and materials from the high Andes where they originate). At the end of the day, we will return to our lodge via "black water" canals, so called because of its dark tea colour (due to the tannins of the decomposing leaves washed out by the Amazon rains and accumulating in the rivers and lagoons). Dinner and overnight stay in the charming Sani lodge.

Included: All meals, transportation, specialized bilingual local guide of the Amazon, overnight stay

After crossing the lagoon, a 20-minute walk will take us to the observation tower. Built on the sides of a Kapokier, its 35 meters in height will allow us to have a breathtaking view of the canopy of the Amazonian forest. The canopy birds, which often are found at much more than 30 meters of height, are among the most difficult to observe in the Amazon. The construction of this type of tower makes our task much easier. In mid-morning, we will descend to ground level for a long observation walk in the forest in a seasonally flooded ecosystem: the Varzea.

This ecosystem is home to a significantly different bird life from the Terra Firme and promises us new species. After a well-deserved rest at the lodge, we will set off again at the end of the afternoon on another trail. This trail winds between Varzea and Terra Firme and offers us the opportunity to observe a wide variety of species. After dinner, we will go on a torch-lit trip in a rowing canoe in search of many nocturnal species as well as Black Caimans. Dinner and overnight stay in the charming Sani lodge.

Included: All meals, transportation, specialized bilingual local guide of the Amazon, overnight stay

This morning we will visit one of the most specialised and interesting ecosystems in the Amazon. The islands located on the great Amazonian rivers represent small independent ecosystems that evolve in a totally autonomous way. These islands, depending on their age, height or advanced stage of vegetative development, are home to a contingent of very different and specialised species. This morning, we will travel along the Napo, several islands of different ages, structures and plant cover in search of all these specialist species. We will return to the lodge during the warm hours of the day.

In the afternoon we will be able to coordinate with our guide our final outing according to what we want to rediscover: observation at the end of the day from the canopy tower, Terra Firme trail, Varzea trail, canoe trip on the edges of the lagoon and the "black water" canals. After dinner, we will have a last walk on one of the trails in search of nocturnal birds. Dinner and overnight stay in the charming Sani lodge.

Included: All meals, transportation, specialized bilingual local guide of the Amazon, overnight stay

Early in the morning, we will take our rowing canoes back to the canals leading us to the Napo River. When we reach the border of the National Park, our motorised canoe will be waiting for us to take us up the Napo River, where we will be able to enjoy our last observations. Arrival in the city of Coca around noon for our terrestrial transfert to Quito.

Included: Breakfast and box lunch, transportation, specialized bilingual local guide of the Amazon