Cundinamarca – Boyacá Plateau

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Information

Trip extension: 12 days.
Average expected number of birds seen during the trip: 300 to 350 species
Colombian Vegetation Types Visited: 5 out of 25
Total habitats visited: 8+
Suggested departure: December to March, July and August

I am Gustavo Cañas-Valle, and I will be your group leader during your trip to Colombia. I have been to Colombia since 1991 and, over these 15 years, I have developed close human relationships with many people there. More than half of them are birders. All of them, Colombians, have proved over the years to be simple and warm people who have supported unselfishly my trips and my sometimes extended stays. I have explored more than half of this country, its neblina covered forests, its mountains, its paramos, its lakes and its people, with their many positive and some negative faces. I have learned to love and to respect this country. It is under these considerations that Neblina Forest has accepted to support this very much desired birding destination: Colombia.

Birding Colombia

Colombia is one of the best birding destinations in South America along with Ecuador. Colombia supports more birds than any other country in the world. Ecuador, on the other hand, has the record of number of bird species per unit area. If you are planning to go Birding Colombia we will provide you with one of the safest options to visit the country and at the same time with the most personal one. My Colombian friends and I will take you with us to places where birding is safe and fun, and where your entrance fee, when required, will support conservation and social development through tourism. Our Colombian birder-friends will bring along to our trips recent news on where and when to go visit a location.

Itinerary

OUR TRIP DAY BY DAY:

Day 1

Arrive in Colombia: "El Dorado" Intl. Airport, Bogota (2600 m / 8,530 ft). Transfer to Hotel. (Overnight in Bogotá). Note: Depending on your expected arrival time to Bogota we can coordinate a direct connection to Cali. This would mean that our overnight would be in Buga instead and we will have extra time for birding Sonso and Yotoco. Otherwise we will follow the schedule as is.

Day 2

Early start for a birding transfer to Pedropalo (1553 m / 5,095 ft). Spend our day birding the Pedropalo Area. Overnight in La Vega.

Day 3

Full day birding Pedropalo. Overnight in La Vega.

Day 4

Birding transfer to Arcabuco (2,772 m / 9094 ft). Overnight in Arcabuco.

Day 5-6

Two full days birding the Arcabuco Area. Overnights in Arcabuco.

Day 7

Birding transfer to Soatá (2711 m / 8,894 ft). Overnight in Soatá.

Day 8-9

Two full days birding Soatá. Overnights in Soatá.

Day 10

Early start for a birding transfer to Villa de Leyva (2119 m / 6,952 ft). Overnight in the Colonial town of Villa de Leyva.

Day 11

Early birding transfer to Bogotá, looking for any elusive endemics from the Cundinamarca-Boyacá Plateu. Overnight in Bogota.

Day 12

Transfer to the airport for your international flight back home or continue with any of our other extension programs.

Should you request it, this program can be considered as an eight-day extension to any of our Colombian programs.

Target Birds:

CUNDINAMARCA - BOYACÁ PLATEAU
Silvery-throated spinetail, Rufous-browed conebill*, Black inca*, Chestnut-bellied hummingbird, Apical flycatcher, Niceforo's wren*, Mountain grackle* Turquoise dacnis-tanager*, Flame-winged parakeet*, Apolinar's wren*, Bogota rail* *Endemic to Colombia

This program can be also combined with two eight-days extensions:

Cauca, and Magdalena Valleys, and Los Nevados National Park, visiting marshes, lakes and protected forests between Cali and Bogotá; and Santa Marta Endemics, exploring the Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta and Santa Marta Mountains Reserves.

Full day birding Abra Málaga. Night in Cusco.