Let's Birding & Follow The Mammals Prints Tour

DAY 1: ARRIVAL IN QUITO, ECUADOR

Arrival in Quito, where you will be met at the airport by our guide and transferred to your hotel, overnight.

DAY 2: QUITO – CANANDE RESERVE

After breakfast our guide will be waiting for you to depart to the north-west of the city until arrive to Canande reserve one of the reserves of Jocotoco Foundation (5 hours approximately), en route you will stop at Mirador del Río Blanco, a place that offers an incredible view of the valley and where you can find different species of tanagers and some hummingbirds such as the tiny Green Thorntail and the beautiful Green-Crowned Brilliant.

Then you will continue to the Canande reserve. Most of the drive is through degraded habitat and plantations. At our arrival, a delicious lunch will be waiting for you, and in the afternoon, you can explore this amazing reserve. Jocotoco Foundation protects more than 14,000 acres in the Canandé Reserve, which is home to one of the world's most important and threatened hotspots of biodiversity: the Chocó. Diner and overnight.

DAY 3: RIO CANANDÉ RESERVE & ITS SURROUNDINGS

After breakfast, you will have a full day to enjoy the trails of Canande reserve and its surroundings, footprints and camera traps have allowed seeing four cat species such as Jaguar, Puma, Ocelot, and Margay; also, it has been recorded other species like the Collared Peccary and Red Brocket Deer.

Three species of monkeys are easily seen close to the lodge: the Mantled Howler monkey, Brown-headed Spider monkey, and White-headed Capuchin. Return to the lodge, dinner, and overnight. About birding, some of the birds that you can see are: Chestnut-backed Antbirds, Broad-billed Sapayoa, Band-tailed Barbthroat, White-whiskered Puffbird, Blue-crowned Manakin, Ornate Hawk-eagle!, Gray-backed Hawk, Black-tipped Cotinga, Great Jacamars.

Return to the lodge, dinner, and overnight.

DAY 4: CANANDE RESERVE TRAILS – TANDAYAPA VALLEY: BELLAVISTA LODGE

After an early breakfast, you will have the last chance to enjoy the trails of the Canande reserve, where, if you are lucky, you can find a couple of mammal species, colorful birds, and reptiles.

After this wonderful time in Canande you will depart for Tandayapa valley. You will arrive at Bellavista Lodge, where a delicious lunch will be waiting for you, time to rest, and at night you will have the opportunity to see the first new carnivore species discovered in the western hemisphere for 35 years, the Olinguito; dinner and overnight.

DAY 5: THE AMAZING COCK OF THE ROCK – TRAVELING TO THE NORTH OF ECUADOR

Early in the morning, after a cup of hot coffee, you will visit the famous Paz de las Aves Refuge where you will have the opportunity to have one of the most amazing experiences, visiting the cock of the rock lek, where, during the breeding season, the males produce a special sound and fly like real acrobats waiting for the female to choose one of them to mate.

Besides, here it is possible to see four species of Antpittas, the Giant Antpitta, the Moustached Antpitta, the Ochre-bellied bellied, and the Yellow-breasted Antpitta. Then you will visit the feeding station to see black chinned and blue-winged mountain tanagers, toucan barbet, dusky piha, sickle-winged guan, crimson-rumped toucanet, etc.

Return to the main house of this reserve to enjoy a typical breakfast of this region and keep birding to find an ocellated tapaculo being fed with worms, yellow-vented woodpecker, powerful woodpecker, crimson mantled woodpecker, orange-breasted fruit-eater, etc.

After this visit, you will depart for Imbabura province, located to the north of Quito, until you arrive at the Sigsipamba community or Hacienda Pantavi, where you will dine and overnight.

DAY 6: FOLLOWING THE SPECTACLED BEAR PRINTS

At 05h00 after a cup of coffee you will depart to San José de Sigsipamba community where the local people with the support of the Big Mammals Conservation Foundation, and the Environment Ministry has developed an interesting project to protect the amazing Spectacled Bear that is one of the largest mammals in South America, this specie is in danger of extinction because of hunting and destruction of their habitat.

You will arrive at the “Oso Andino overlooking” from where you can see, at 200 meters, some individuals that arrive in this area to feed on 'Pacche' trees. These trees bear lipid-rich wild avocados like fruits that are an important nutritious delicatessen that attract old and young bears as well as females with bear cubs, also they eat higueron and achupallas.

Return to your hotel, dinner, and overnight.

DAY 7: SIGSIPAMBA – PAPALLACTA REGION

After an early breakfast, depending on how successful our previous day was, we will return to the Mirador to look for more Andean bears and other species around the area.

At noon, you will depart for the Papallacta region that is part of the Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve, another important protected zone, that has an approximate area of 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) composed mainly of páramo, primary forests, rivers, and lagoons. It is considered one of the protected areas of greatest animal and plant diversity in Ecuador.

Dinner and overnight in Guango Lodge.

DAY 8: CAYAMBE COCA ECOLOGICAL RESERVE & ITS SURROUNDINGS

After breakfast, today you will walk around the Cayambe Coca Ecological Reserve. Starting in Papallacta, you can visit the reserve highlands composed of Andean paramo and high forests. The paramo, considered a carbon deposit, collects and regulates water flow. The unique habitat of the Cayambe–Coca reserve holds special Andean birds and some mammal species.

During this day, with the help of our bilingual naturalist guide and a local ranger, you will walk through the trails of this Ecological reserve to try to see the Mountain Tapir, spectacled bear, Andean fox, Armadillos, rabbits, and others.

In the afternoon, you will continue with your trip to San Isidro Lodge, it lies at an elevation of about 2,000m (6,800 ft.) above sea level, in a zone still mostly blanketed by extensive humid forest.

This combination of factors offers you an agreeable temperature, exciting birds, and a diversity of other wildlife, including large mammals. Box lunch en route and in the afternoon, you will return to Guango lodge, you can walk around the lodge looking for hummingbird species at feeders, dine, and overnight.

DAY 9: ANTISANA ECOLOGICAL RESERVE – PATATE VALLEY

After breakfast, our naturalist guide will be waiting for you to depart for the Antisana Ecological Reserve, which is located on the oriental slope of the Andes.

Today, with the help of a Ranger of this reserve, you will walk to try to find a Tapir and other mammals and enjoy the amazing landscape of the impressive Antisana volcano (5704 mts, 18.714 ft). This is an excellent place is home to endangered mammal species like the spectacled bear and the mountain tapir, among others like the white-tailed deer, rabbits, skunks, Andean fox, dwarf deer, puma, and others.

Also in the wilderness, we can find large populations of sheep and horses. Among the amphibians, there are marsupial frogs and Antisana jambatos. You will visit Mica Lake to see Silvery Grebe, Andean Teal, Andean Ruddy Duck, Yellow-billed Pintail, Andean Coot, as well as many land birds such as Aplomado Falcon, Andean Gull, Andean Lapwing, and Carunculated Caracara.

Here you have a high probability to be in contact with the majestic Andean Condor and other species like Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle and Variable Hawk, black faced ibis, paramo ground tyrant, paramo pipit, sedge wren, bairds sandpiper, cinereous harrier, Bar-winged and Stout-billed Cinclodes, Black-faced Ibis, Shining Sunbeam, Red- rumped Bush-Tyrant, Paramo Pipit, Giant Conebill, and Spectacled Whitestart.

You will enjoy a delicious box lunch en route, and then you will depart to Hacienda Leito, located in Patate Valley, where you will dine and overnight.

DAY 10: LEITO RESERVE: THE LLANGANATIS NATIONAL PARK

After breakfast, you will depart for “Leito” Private Natural Reserve located in the damp area of the Llanganati National Park. It is a 37.5km journey by car through the humid Andean Tundra. The flora, fauna, and the very interesting history, decorated by tales of Inca gold, surround this incredible place with mysticism.

You will arrive at the San Jorge community, where you will visit the Interpretation Center, and then you will start to hike through the paramo, home of amazing species like pumas, tapirs, bears, birds, and Andean spirits. The wildlife sightseeing is difficult to observe and we cannot guarantee it, but surely you will live a unique experience by finding its footprints that allow you to feel its presence within the forest. In addition, there are camera traps that use radio telemetry to study the behavior of these emblematic species of the South American Andes.

In the afternoon, you will return to your hotel for, overnight.

DAY 11: BAÑOS CITY – QUITO

After breakfast, you can explore and walk around Hacienda Leito, or if you prefer, you can visit Baños city, where you can see how people extract a delicious juice from the sugar cane, the production of melcochas, and you can buy beautiful handicrafts made from balsa and tagua.

Also, you can visit the famous waterfall route, where you can find beautiful waterfalls like Manto de la Novia hanging for more than 200 m above the river. Here you will cross the Pastaza River by a rustic lift, then you can hike down to admire the waterfall from the base.

Also, the most important waterfall is El Pailón del Diablo, known as the most impressive waterfall in the area, as well as for being the world's 10th highest water drop in the region.

You will follow the trail until the waterfall,l and it takes you about 20 minutes, time to enjoy this place, and then you will return to the top (it takes you about 1 hour). After this full morning of activities, lunch in a local restaurant, and then you will return to Quito, overnight in a hotel located close to the airport.

DAY 12: QUITO – HOME FLIGHT

After an unforgettable expedition in Ecuador full of nature and adventure, you will be transferred to the airport to catch your international flight.

END OF THE SERVICES

A NOTE ON THE ORDER OF THE ITINERARY:

Itinerary subject to change based on local conditions. It could be flexible according to the client’s interests. Wildlife is very unpredictable and is not guaranteed to be found.

INCLUDES: Private transportation, bilingual naturalist guide, accommodation based on double rooms in all the hotels and lodges detailed in the itinerary (single supplement under request); meals as described in the itinerary, entrance fees to: Paz de las aves reserve, Canande reserve, San Jose Sigsipamba, Cayambe Coca ecological reserve, Antisana ecological reserve, Leito reserve (LLanganatis National Park).

NOT INCLUDED: Travel insurance, meals not specified, alcoholic drinks, tips, and personal expenses.