Tour Overview:

Ecuador is one of the most diverse countries on Earth for birds. The easily accessible northwest of the country (just 90 minutes from the capital, Quito), is long established as one of the best places in Ecuador to go birding, with more local birding sites concentrated there than anywhere else. Therefore, this tour is almost entirely based out of one famous birding lodge, Tandayapa Bird Lodge, from where many easily sites can be reached. The lodge, situated in the rich Choco bioregion with its many specialty birds, has been serving birders, bird photographers and other tourists for nearly twenty years, and is set within one of the most important birding areas in the region, the Tandayapa Valley, with its cloudforests and endemic birds. It is also within easy reach of other famous birding locales, like Mashpi, Milpe, Mindo, and Rio Silanche. All these, and more, will be covered on this tour.

Tropical Birding already offers shorter tours of this nature at Tandayapa, but many wish they could have stayed longer at Tandayapa (even after 5 nights there), so this is where this tour fits in. This tour allows a more relaxed approach, with “buffer days” around Tandayapa Bird Lodge to break up the longer day trips from the lodge, and many days when afternoons can be taken off if desired. The longer stay will also allow us to cover some other sites not possible on the shorter tours. While this is not a Birding with a Camera® Tour, the slower pace will allow more time for photography than most of our other Birding Tours.