Today you start your Birding tour to Colombia!
A driver will be waiting for you at arrivals and will bring you directly to your cozy hotel in the historic center of Cartagena.
Depending on your arrival time, you will have some free time to calmly acclimatize and relax, and start discovering this beautiful colonial city!
Accommodation: Hotel 3 Banderas
Even though the main goal of your trip is to spot amazing birds, it will be a pity not to spend at least half-a-day discovering Cartagena. It is a gorgeous and charming city that will also serve as a comfortable start of your trip.
Therefore, you will have the morning free for you to discover and enjoy Cartagena.
After lunch, you will be taken to Santa Marta. It is a 4 hours’ drive along the Caribbean Coast. Santa Marta is the ideal base point to start your next birding adventures.
Accommodation: Hotel Casa del Farol
Today you will start your 4-day visit to one of the top birding places in the world, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
Your day will start by getting picked up at 5:00 am in your hotel. You will then drive for about 1 hour until you arrive to a place called La Cabaña, where you will do your first birdwatching.
Afterwards, at around 8:30 am, you will have breakfast and continue your drive towards the area surrounding the Reserva El Dorado.
Along the way, you will make a few more stops for some more birding.
After arriving in your hotel, you will do the check-in, have lunch and spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying the surroundings and doing some short birdings in the surroundings.
In the area around the hotel, the following bird species have been spotted (many of them endemic):
Santa Marta brush-finch, Sierra Nevada brush-finch, Santa Marta Parakeet, Scarlet-fronted Parakeet, Santa Marta Warbler, Mountain Foliagleaner, Santa Marta foliage-gleaner(endemic), Santa Marta antbird(endemic), white-lored Warbler(endemic), Santa Marta Tapaculo (endemic), Brown-rumped Tapaculo, Whooping Motmot, Golden-winged Sparrow (near endemic), Santa Marta Emerald Toucanet, Keel-billed Toucan, Black-chested Jay, Rosy-thrush Tanager, Swallow tanager, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Rusty-breasted antpitta, white-tipped quetzal, santa marta blossomcrown, black-backed thorbilled and many others.
Accommodation: Sierra Alta Finca Boutique
Today you will visit a place called the Cuchillas de San Lorenzo. It is an amazing place for birding and to have the best possible views over the surrounding mountains, the glaciers and the ocean.
You will start your day at 4:30 am by going in a 4×4 jeep with your guide for about 1.5 hours up the mountains. Then, you will enjoy the views during the sunrise and continue to do some of the best bird-watching in the world.
Around 8:00 am, you will do a bit more birding and then you will go back to the hotel to have lunch.
Finally, around 3:30 pm, you will do some extra birding in the paths surrounding the hotel.
Accommodation: Sierra Alta Finca Boutique
Today you will have an extra day to spot more birds.
You will go on some extra hikes in the surroundings to try to spot the biggest amount of endemic and semi-endemic birds.
Accommodation: Sierra Alta Finca Boutique
Before leaving this birding paradise, you will do some extra birdwatching in the area surrounding the lodge between 6:00 and 8:00 am.
Afterwards you will have breakfast and check out. During the drive downwards, you will do a couple of stops for the last birding opportunities.
You will have lunch in the area of Minca and finally you will be taken to your hotel in Santa Marta.
Accommodation: Casa del Farol
The Salamanca Island Park road is located between Ciénaga and Barranquilla and is crossed by the main road that connects the departments of Magdalena and Atlántico. It is conformed by lakes, mangrove forests and dry forest.
You will start this birding day by being picked up in the hotel of Santa Marta at 4:30 am. You will first do some birding in the dry forest area.
After a stop for having breakfast, you will do more birding but now in the mangroves area.
Some of the species that can be seen in this area are:
Pied puff-bird, Snail kite, Yellow-Chinned Spinetail, wood stork, Osprey, buscar Northern Screamer, Chesnut-winged Chachalaca, Sapphirebellied Hummingbird, Rouset-throated Puffbird, Large-billed Tern, Blak-collared Hawk, Bicoloured Conbill, striped-backed wren, Ferruginous Pygmy-owl, Scale dove, Dwarf cuckoo, lesser yellow-headed vulture, Pear Kite, red-rumped Woodpecker, Brown-throated Parakeet, Straightbilled Woodcreeper.
You will then have lunch and then you will be taken directly to Santa Marta’s airport so you can catch your next flight to Pereira. Upon landing, you will be driven to your hotel in the city of Manizales; an ideal location for the birding adventure of tomorrow.
Accommodation: Hotel Quo
Today it will be time to go to high altitude mountains.
You will be picked up in your hotel at 7:00 am and taken to the Nevado del Ruiz.
Here, you will be able to enjoy the amazing Paramo ecosystem. It is something you won’t find in almost any other country in the world. The landscapes and the nature are truly impressive.
This area is also the best place to spot endemic birds such as Buffy Helmetcrest and Rufous-fronted Parakeet.
The tour will involve some short walks and includes breakfast and lunch.
You will then be brought to Reserva Rio Blanco so you can do an amazing night birding tour in the area.
Accommodation: Reserva Rio Blanco
Come and join us on a trip to one of the best birding spots in all of Colombia with over 350 bird species: The Río Blanco Reserva Natural. This natural reserve is located in the Reserva Forestal Protectora de Río Blanco and the Quebrada Olivares which covers an area of 4,943 hectares.
It is the largest area of environmental interest in the Municipality of Manizales and is considered as one of the richest regions in biodiversity on the planet. A well-trained guide will take you to the four different observation points of endemic and semi-endemic birds within the reserve.
You will spend the entire morning spotting amazing birds in the reserve. After lunch, you will be taken to another fantastic birding location: the Tinamu Birding Reserve, where you will be guided and accompanied by a bird specialist.
Each trail in the Tinamu Reserve is specifically made for bird watching and there have been at least 220 different bird species spotted in the reserve. Your guide is a true specialist and will give you as much explanation as possible.
Accommodation: Tinamu Birding Reserve
Today you will do your last birding in Tinamu Reserve. Early in the morning, you will go again into the forest and surrounding hills to spot even more birds.
In the afternoon, you will be taken to the airport of Pereira so you can catch a flight to Yopal, the capital of the Casanare Department.
Accommodation: Hotel Camoruco
On the first day of your Casanare adventure you will be met by our driver in the lobby of your hotel. Your first destination is the amazing Vereda Altagracia in Reserva Buenaventura.
Depending on the weather conditions, it will take around 7 hours over a bumpy gravel-like road to get to IBA (Important Birding Area) Vereda Altagracia where your hotel Buenaventura is located and where you will spend the next days. The drive will be made in a comfortable SUV that is adapted to the local roads.
Before getting to your accommodation, you will make a stop in the town of Trinidad to have a typical lunch before continuing towards the plains, where you will have more than enough chances to spot amazing birds and other wildlife. Keep your eyes open and binoculars and cameras ready!
Upon arrival, you will be welcomed by the owners, who are local farmers, and have a delicious traditional dinner.
Your basic, but typical accommodation is located in the middle of nowhere so you will be spending the next days in pristine nature.
Accommodation: Hotel Buenaventura
Today your day starts early in the morning in order to have good chances of spotting more wildlife.
Before breakfast, you will go bird and wildlife watching in a nearby area where it is common to spot giant anteaters.
When you are back in the hotel, you will have breakfast and re-charge your energies for the rest of the day.
After breakfast, you can choose to go on a Jeep Safari through the plains, go for another hike in the area or take a canoe trip on a nearby lake. All of them are great ways to spot plenty of wildlife.
In the afternoon, you will go to a natural place called El Lagunazo, to enjoy the sunset. The sunsets of this area are famous for its amazing colors. Enjoying it while being surrounded by hundreds of ducks, capybaras, wild pigs and birds, is an unforgettable experience.
Among the bird species you might find here are: scarlet ibis, hoatzin, jaribu, capped heron, roseate spoon bill, burrowing owl, orinoco goose, crimson-crested woodpecker, Crestless curassow and many more.
Accommodation: Hotel Buenaventura
You will start the day with a typical breakfast in the hotel. Keep your eyes open for the many birds, family of howler monkeys, anteaters, and caimans.
During the morning, it will be time for a canoe tour. While sitting in a traditional wooden canoe, you will have great possibilities to spot more birds. Our guide will navigate you to the best places for animal spotting.
Capibaras and caimans are usually on the shores of the river. The surrounding trees are home to howler monkeys and plenty of birds. If you are lucky, you might also be able to spot otters or an anaconda.
Accommodation: Hotel Buenaventura
You will start your last day of your Casanare adventure with a final typical breakfast in the hotel. Enjoy the noises of nature and indulge yourself in the views over the plains and maybe go for a last hike in the surroundings.
After a short walk in the surroundings, you will be brought back to Yopal´s airport so you can catch your flight to Bogota.
Accommodation: Hotel Casa Deco
Depending on your international flight back home, you might still have some time to enjoy and discover the center of Bogota.
At the appropriate time you will be transported to the airport so you can catch your flight back to your country.
All local flights.
Land transport, tours, and accommodation as mentioned in the itinerary.
Breakfast in each hotel.
Premium Travel Insurance (Click here to see what is included)
24/7 support from the Lulo Colombia staff.
The use of one of Lulo’s mobile phones on your trip.
A local SIM card with emergency credit.
A travel application with access to all details of your trip.
International flight.
Not mentioned services and meals.
Price based on group of 2.
Price is subject to change, depending on availability of hotels and flights.
Click here to read about our Flexible Booking and Cancellation Policies.
If you want to further personalize this itinerary to your needs and wishes, click the below button. After answering a couple of questions, you will be able to request a detailed proposal from us with a final quote.
If you don’t want to make any adjustments to this travel itinerary and are perfectly happy with it, click the below button so we can give you your own proposal and final quote.
If this itinerary was not what you were looking for, we invite you to have a look at our sample itineraries by clicking here.
