Transfer in from the new International Airport Mariscal Sucre in Tababela to Quito. Usually, international flights arrive late in the evening. INCLUDES: transfer-in, accommodation at Ilayaku Lodge.

Experience the beauty and biodiversity of Ecuador’s Andean cloud forests. Your journey begins with an early pick-up as you head northwest to Zuroloma Reserve, located on the slopes of the Pichincha Volcano. Along the way, you’ll travel along the famous Hummingbird Route, passing through the old Nono-Mindo Road. The Zuroloma Reserve is a one-of-a-kind environment, featuring a diverse array of flora and fauna and stunning views of the Andean cloud forest and snowcapped volcanoes. You’ll have the opportunity to witness a unique ecosystem with a complex combination of biodiversity, climate, and topographic conditions. In addition to the breathtaking scenery, the Zuroloma Reserve is also known for its hummingbirds. You’ll be mesmerized by the vibrant and sparkling species that call this world-renowned destination home, including the rare Chestnut-napped Antpitta, Rufous Antpitta, and Sword-billed Hummingbird. This reserve offers some of the best bird photography opportunities for these elusive species. You’ll observe many species hopping and flitting about a strategically-located array of mossy branches at very close range, allowing for excellent photo opportunities.

This area is located in an extremely important zone for conservation for the planet, one of the last hotspots of biodiversity, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve called the Andean Choco. Your visit will support a sustainable income alternative for the local people who run this conservation initiative, a very valuable effort that resists the pressure for agricultural conversion and other ways of habitat degradation. After a productive morning, we’ll continue down the old Nono-Mindo Road to Tandayapa Valley, enjoying outstanding landscapes along the way. Following the route known as the “Route of the ‘Quinde’”- the Kichwa indigenous word for “hummingbird”- you’ll make your way to Alambi Cloud Forest Reserve, a true hummingbird paradise. Over 15 species of hummingbirds visit this garden each day.

Today you’ll visit a reserve located at an altitude of 1,800 meters, just off the world-renowned Nono-Mindo Road in the outskirts of the Tandayapa and Mindo Valleys. This site is a bird photographer’s paradise! Each and every element of this small reserve is designed to delight both birders and photographers, who can chalk up a hard drive’s worth of photos of hummers, tanagers, and even the fancy, multicolored Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan.

This site also has light traps that attract moths during the night, and in the early morning, insectivorous birds flock to this amazing breakfast buffet. Blinds located close to these light traps are well situated for great photo ops. The garden here features a wide variety of flowering plants and also feeders, all of which attract a dizzying diversity of hummingbirds. While the hummer feeders are a big draw, the large selection of flowers makes for even more natural photo ops. Typically, you see as many as 14 different types of hummingbirds here.

The “hummer highlight” for many visitors is the Hoary Puffleg, a species that generally does not visit feeders but that for months now has been a fairly regular visitor. Other hummingbirds present in this area are the endemics Violet-tailed Sylph, as well as the Empress Brilliant, Gorgeted Sunangel, and the simply stunning Velvet-purple Coronet. NOTE: Multiflash setting for hummingbird photography is available upon request. Please ask for more information.

This now-famous antpitta reserve near Mindo is considered a must-visit place and a highlight of the Northwestern Route. Here, the former local farmer Angel Paz and his brother Rodrigo have switched their activities to birding and conservation.

They are pioneers in the neotropics in hand-feeding several elusive species like the Dark-backed Woodquail, Moustached, Giant, Yellow-breasted, Chestnut-crowned, and Ochre-breasted Antpittas with amazing and nearly miraculous success.

These birds respond relatively easily to their voice, giving us a great chance to see these otherwise evasive birds. They have gained substantial fame for developing this technique of conditioning extremely rare Antpittas and other rare birds to come out onto the trail.

Hummingbird feeders within the reserve attract many species like the Velvet-purple Coronet, Empress Brilliant, and Brown-Violetear.

Other Chocó specialties sometimes found in the area include Nariño Tapaculo, Orange-breasted Fruiteater, and Black -chinned Mountain-Tanager. It is also a good site for birds like Olivaceus Piha, Golden-headed Quetzal, Golden-winged Manakin, and Crimson-rumped Toucanet. Here you’ll also visit an active Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek at sunrise.

The species exhibits marked sexual dimorphism; the male has a large disk-like crest and a very unique, vivid scarlet plumage.

Gatherings of males compete for breeding females with each male displaying its colorful plumage, bobbing and hopping, and making strident calls. To have a successful experience at the reserve with the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek and the Antpittas, it is necessary to arrive at, or slightly before, dawn.

Mashpi Amagusa is a unique destination for nature enthusiasts and photographers in the northwestern foothills that has gained notoriety for its impressive collection of Chocó endemic bird species.

The wet mossy forest along the roads in the area boasts Moss-Backed Tanager, Pacific Tuftedcheek, Orange-Breasted Fruiteater, Black Solitaire, Indigo Flowerpiercer, and the very rare Choco Vireo. You’ll visit a reserve managed by a local family from the neighboring Pacto Loma community.

Sergio, the owner, has set fruit feeders with natural perches that offer great photography opportunities of many species that are difficult or rare elsewhere, like the Glistening-green Tanager, Moss-backed Tanager, Rufous-throated Tanager, Golden-collared Honeycreeper, and the Toucan Barbet, among others. Your mind will be blown by the amazing hummingbird activity in their garden.

Hummingbirds regularly visit the flowers and feeders around the main house, such as the Brown Inca, Violet-tailed Sylph, Velvet-purple Coronet, Green Thorntail, Purple-bibbed Whitetip, Empress Brilliant, and Green-crowned Brilliant, among others.

The reserve has some of the last well-preserved remnants of pristine cloud forest, in one of the world’s most renowned hot spots of biodiversity on the planet, the Andean Chocó rainforest. Your visit will support the efforts to preserve this invaluable forest over time.

After breakfast, we’ll head out to Silanche, a Mindo Cloudforest Foundation (MCF) reserve. This is a nonprofit conservation organization founded in 2001 that works to protect critically endangered natural habitats in Ecuador.

We’ll get to explore this sanctuary in the Chocó-Andean foothills. Silanche is one of the last remaining accessible forest remnants found in this key life zone, situated in hilly lowland forest at an altitude between 300 and 350m. The main feature at Río Silanche is its incredible birding from an observation tower: mixed species foraging flocks, packed with many important Chocó endemic species.

Many of these bird species are otherwise difficult to find without arranging a logistically far more complicated expedition to Esmeraldas province or even Colombia: Purple-chested Hummingbird, Chocó Trogon, Double-banded Graytail, Moustached/Griscom’s Antwren, Stub-tailed Antbird, Black-tipped Cotinga, Scarlet-breasted Dacnis, Scarlet-and-white Tanager, Blue-whiskered Tanager.

The MCF is working hard to repair and maintain a natural corridor between the Caoní and Silanche rivers, strengthening the Río Caoní IBA. In the afternoon, you’ll visit Milpe reserve, which was established in 2004 and has recently been expanded to 100 hectares (247 acres), now including the adjacent ‘Milpe Gardens’, which has easier access to the Chalhuayacu river valley.

The Bird Sanctuary covers an altitudinal range from 1020-1150m (3350-3770 ft). Both Club-winged and Golden-winged manakins are relatively easy to observe, photograph, and enjoy. Seasonally, the White-bearded Manakin is here too, popping and whirring.

We will leave early to reach the small private reserve of 23 de Junio by dawn. In recent years, a small population of the rare and Choco endemic Long-wattled Umbrella bird has been found here. The aim of this trip is to get some great views of the Long-wattled Umbrellabird (Cephaloterus penduliger); this dispersal lek-forming species is a Chocó endemic specialty whose conservation status has been raised to vulnerable due to the destruction of its habitat.

This bird species, locally known as the bull bird, is a species of cotinga that, just like the famous cock of the rock, uses leks to search for a partner. Leks are used by males to make their grand courtship performance, where they show off their fine crest feathers, covering their heads up to the beak, like a pompadour coiffed by the most flamboyant of hairdressers.

During this display of talent, a large and bizarre pendulum extends – from which its scientific name penduliger emerges – that hangs over its chest like a tie, inflating it to show all its splendor with the surrounding short and shiny feathers all erect.

The umbrellabirds sing powerful songs in the leks, as if giving a good blow on a horn, a serious and heartfelt cry of love. We may encounter other rare species like Rose-faced Parrots, Moss-backed Tanager, and Black Solitary. We’ll explore the reserve at its different altitudinal floors, where we’ll have the chance to see different species of toucans, like Chocó Toucan, Yellow-throated Toucan, and the Collared Aracari (Pale-mandibled Aracari); all in a matter of a couple of hours.

There are not many places in Ecuador, or for that matter in the world, where you can see all these birds in the same area. It is important for us to support local conservation efforts; through our visit, we’ll generate a direct positive impact and support for the local community. After lunch, we’ll prepare to drive back to Quito.

This trip will take you through a great scenery in the Ecuadorian Andes. Leave Puembo early in the morning for a one-and-a-half-hour drive towards Hacienda Antisanilla – Chakana Reserve, a 7,000-acre conservation land purchased in 2014 by the Jocotoco Foundation to safeguard Ecuador’s most important population of Andean Condors.

Today, you’ll have access to enjoy a privileged lookout at some of the most important Andean Condor roosting and nesting sites. You might see them gliding at eye level. The altitudinal range covered is from 10.000 to 12.000 ft asl. You’ll spend the entire day in the area, watching for Andean condors (should be easy!) and other beautiful birds like the unique Ecuadorian Hillstar feeding on the unique flowers of the Chuquiraga shrub.

You will even have to keep your eyes open for the only bear species of South America: The Spectacled Bear. The paramo is rich in important food sources for the bears’ mostly herbivorous diet; The Andean Bear’s main food source in the area is a type of ground paramo bromeliad, Puya sp., which is pretty abundant in this ecosystem.

The area has a road system and trails of varying difficulty, allowing you to cover a big extension of territory in a short period of time. It is right here in the paramo, east of Quito, where you can increase your probabilities of a great encounter with bears and other Andean wildlife, sometimes close enough to have wonderful views and photographs!.

After exploring the reserve, you’ll have a well-deserved break and lunch at Tambocondor, where you can also observe different species of hummingbirds like the Giant Hummingbird, Shining Sunbeam, Black-tailed Trainbearer, and other species. Later, you’ll be transferred to the airport to catch your flight back home. Plan on flights after 7:30 PM.

In case you don’t find a good flight match, you can overnight at a hotel we regularly use in Puembo and start fresh the following day. Please let us know this in advance so we can assist you with the arrangements and quote additional services.

We leave early today for a flight to Coca, headed down to the base of the Andes and eastwards across the vast Amazonian floodplain to Coca. We’ll travel along the Auca road towards the Shiripuno River. It will take us approximately two hours to get to this doorway to the Waorani territory.

We will enter the Yasuni there, and you might even encounter some of its inhabitants on the way to the campsite.

Wao Kamp is located at the entrance of Gaba’s Territory. Gaba is an elder Waorani warrior. Before wrapping up the day, we’ll visit Gaba and then return for dinner.

We start our journey early, before 6:00 a.m. We’ll go on a navigation trip through the misty Shiripuno River. You might spot toucans, macaws, monkeys, tapirs, or capybaras here. We then enjoy breakfast at 8:00 a.m. before joining Gaba —a respected Waorani Warrior and Chief— for a 4-5 hour trek focused on wildlife, survival skills, and ethnobotany, including a visit to a clay lick.

We’ll then have lunch and rest at noon, returning to Gaba’s home in the afternoon to explore Waorani art made with natural materials. We’ll enjoy dinner around 7:00 p.m. before wrapping up the day.

After an early birding along the road, you’ll reach Cabañas San Isidro. This reserve and lodge is located at 6800 feet a.s.l. with an amazing view of the Quijos Valley and Guacamayos Ridge. The lodge is set on a re-growing pasture now surrounded by secondary forest. The cabins are only a five-minute walk from a large, privately-owned reserve of about 2200 acres of pristine primary humid forest that connects two larger national reserves, one at each end.

The plan is to get to San Isidro in time to get settled into your rooms and even take a quick look around. Large mixed flocks roam the forest, such as Saffron-crowned Tanager, Black-eared Hemispingus, and Rufous-breasted Flycatcher; whereas Rufous-crowned Tody-Flycatchers and Long-tailed Antbirds skulk in the bamboo patches along the road.

Hummingbird feeders attract many different species like Bronzy Inca, Collared Inca, Gorgeted Woodstar, Green Violetear, Long-Tailed Sylph, Fawn-breasted Brilliant, Sparkling Violetear, among others. By night, you’re within earshot of hollering Rufous-banded Owls, as well as the mysterious “San Isidro Owl,” which seems to be an undescribed species.

Your journey will begin early in the morning for a scenic drive towards Guango Lodge to get a taste of the beautiful Andean temperate forests. ​Colorful mixed flocks with birds such as Lacrimose and Hooded Mountain Tanagers, Blue-backed Conebill, and Black-capped Hemispingus can be seen around the lodge. Here you have possibilities for rare and very local birds like the Mountain Avocetbill, the stunning Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan, Andean Guan, and Northern Mountain Cacique. Along the Papallacta River, we’ll try to find a unique resident of fast-flowing mountain rivers, a powerful swimmer and diver: the Torrent Duck.

This could definitely be one of our day highlights! After lunch, if the weather allows, you’ll visit the Papallacta Pass, a dirt road into the Cayambe Coca National Park, which brings us into the high elevation paramo at Papallacta, a very tundra-like habitat.

On clear days, the views of the surroundings and various volcanoes are breathtaking; a stop right up at the pass is one of the best spots to photograph the snow-capped Antisana Volcano as it towers over the mountains below.

From this point on, we should start scanning the sky from time to time for Variable Hawk, Carunculated Caracara, and Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, which may soar overhead.

We’ll check stands of Polylepis woodland for Giant Conebill, Black-backed Bush Tanager, White-chinned Thistletail, Buff-breasted Mountain-Tanager, Pearled Treerunner, Golden-crowned Tanager, Pale-naped Brush-Finch, and the scarce Red-rumped Bush-Tyrant. At the highest elevations, you’ll seek out the secretive and cryptic Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe.

If you were not lucky with the weather the previous day, you’ll try again the Papallacta Pass on your way to Antisana. Dramatic changes in vegetation patterns take place with altitude variation. The snow-covered top of Antisana Volcano is located at 18,886 ft a.s.l..

It’s the fourth-highest peak of Ecuador.

Something that makes this place wonderful is the contact with undisturbed nature apart from crowded tourist places and its beautiful Andean scenery.

The reserve provides opportunities to understand the geological history of the Andes and the importance of this unique ecosystem.

We may see many high altitude and local specialties, including Ecuadorian Hillstar visiting the Chuquiragua bushes, Black-tailed Trainbearer, Stout-billed Cinclodes, Andean Tit-Spineatil, Many-striped Canastero, Tawny Antpitta, Tufted tit-Tyrant, Red-crested Cotinga, Paramo Pipit, Plumbeous Sierra-Finch, and Black-winged Ground-Dove.

We’ll have the chance to see many Carunculated Caracaras, Andean Gulls, Andean Lapwings, and many other species that are absent or difficult to find at other sites, such as the rare Black-faced Ibis.

This reserve has at least four different cliffs on which up to 30 Andean condors have been counted perched; this is a large number considering an estimated population of just 102 wild individuals in the country. Birdlife categorizes Antisana as an Important Bird Area and is part of The Nature Conservancy’s Condor Bioreserve. It is just a worthy glimpse between 10500 ft and 15000 ft a.s.l.

An early departure from Guango will take us to the western entrance of the Antisana Ecological Reserve, about 48 km (30 miles) southeast of Quito, with a mixture of dwarf forest below and paramo above. Arriving at “La Mica” lake, we explore the lake shore in search of Slate-colored Coots, Andean teals, Andean ruddy ducks, and Yellow-billed Pintail. This is also the best place in Ecuador to get a closer look at the regal Silvery Grebe.

Lunch at Tambocondor, a locally owned restaurant and lodge with a privileged view of the Andean Condor cliffs and with many species of hummingbirds visiting the feeders and the beautiful flowers around the restaurant. They have a wonderful platform from where we have seen Spectaclead bears on multiple occasions feeding on the succulent Puyas that abound in the area.

After this, if you do not join the available extensions to the Andean western slopes or other destinations, you will be transferred to the Quito International Airport to catch your flight back home. If you need an extra night to rest and start fresh the next day, please let us know so we can make the necessary arrangements.