ITINERARY:

Day 1 – Arrival day – Bogota International Airport – 12th Feb
This day will be used as an arrival day. Once you have arrived in Bogota you should transfer the short distance to the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, where we will have a welcoming dinner in the evening ready for the start of the tour on the 13th.
Night at Hilton Garden Inn Hotel. D

Day 2 – Florida Park – Enchanted Garden – Lake Tabacal
Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, at an altitude of 2600 meters above sea level and a temperature between 12-20 degrees C. It is a metropolis of 10 million inhabitants, the area where the city is located was originally covered by wetlands, of which there are very few. La Florida District Park offers an excellent bird watching option within the city of Bogotá and has a wetland, part of a conservation and reforestation project, where some of the birds restricted to the Cundiboyacense highlands live and offers a good place Stop for migratory species. There are a number of species to look for here including Bogotá Rail, Rufous-crowned Conebill, Subtropical Doradito, Andean Ruddy Duck and more. Once we have finished here we will move onto the Enchanted Garden. This is a small house in the rural part of San Francisco 1.5 hours from Bogotá, its owner Leonor Pardo, installed hummingbird drinking fountains more than 25 years ago and today  a visit to the garden can yield up to 16 species of Hummingbird including the Ruby Topaz, Indigo-capped Hummingbird, Gorgeted Woodstar and Red-billed Emerald. After some time here we will once again move on to Tabacal Lake. This small lagoon is surrounded by montane and premontane forest and has a huge diversity of birds with over 350 species recorded here. Although this area is popular amongst tourists, we will walk several trails that are usually only used by birdwatchers giving us great chances to see species like Rusty-breasted Antpitta, Spectacled Parrotlet, Speckle-breasted Wren, Bay-headed Tanager and Rosy-thrush Tanager. After a few hours here we will head towards our hotel for the night, completing our first full day in this beautiful country.
Night at Hotel Boutique la Ermita. B, L, D

Day 3 – Laguna del Hato – transfer to Rio Claro Reserve
With an interesting variation of ecosystems between dry forest, cereal cultivation, tropical rainforest, grassland, riverbank and wetlands, the road via the municipality of Mendez on the Laguna del Hato sector is a place with a high diversity of species. This will be mostly easy birding from the bus and we will have a chance to significantly increase the number of species on the list. Although there is not a large number of rare or endemic species, we will likely add over 100 species in this morning. Colombian Chachalaca, Velvet-fronted Euphonia, Apical Flycatcher, Dwarf Cuckoo, Crested Bobwhite, Jet Antbird, Lance-tailed Manakin, White-eared Conebill, Russet-throated Puffbird are just a few of the species we hope to see here along this 30km road, where we will not just see birds but also the beautiful landscapes of the Magdalena valley. After Lunch we will then spend the afternoon driving to the Rio Claro Reserve where we will spend the next 3 nights.
Night at Rio Claro Reserve. B, L, D

Day 4 & 5 – Rio Claro Reserve
The beautiful Rio Claro nature Reserve is located 3 hours from the city of Medellín, in the basin of the Magdalena Valley. Surrounded by a lush, humid tropical forest, the Rio Claro Nature Reserve is an area of high importance in Colombia due to the number of endemic birds, amphibians, reptiles, butterflies and Insects. Being a remnant of natural forest that has remained intact for centuries, this refuge of life serves as home to some of Colombia’s most threatened species of extinction such as White-footed Tamarin and Neotropical Otter. Rio Claro is one of the natural reserves of Colombia with the largest number of registered species and the most biodiverse in the department of Antioquia. A place without doubt nature lovers will adore. During our 2 full days here, we will search a number of different areas looking for just a portion of the wildlife this stunning area has to offer. Some of the species we can hope to see include Magdalena Antbird, Antioquia Bristle Tyrant, Barred Puffbird, Wing-barred Piprites, Brownish Twistwing, Grey-cheeked Nunlet, Pacific Antwren, Blue Cotinga, Western Striped Manakin, Ruby Topaz, Jet Antbird, Black-chested Jay and Citron-throated Toucan.
2 Nights in Rio Claro Nature Reserve. B, L, D

Day 6 – Rio Claro – Transfer to San Vicente
After an early breakfast we will spend a small portion of the morning birding around Rio Claro in search of anything we might have missed on the previous days. Once packed up we will make the long drive to municipality of San Vicente de Chucuri in the eastern Andes, this shoud take around 8 hours. We will make several stops along the way to stretch our legs and see if we can add a few birds to the list.
Night at Quinta Tibigaro Hotel. B, L, D

Day 7 – Cerulean Warbler Reserve – Yariguies National Park
During our full day here, we will visit two reserves, first of which is the Serranía de los Yariguies National Natural Park. At least 38% of this protected area is completely intact, while the rest of the park has been developed for agriculture and livestock production. A path made through the park in the 1930s called “Lengerke Road”, crosses it from the town of San Vicente de Chucuri to the town of Zapatoca and becomes the main path for bird watching. This is a national park with a great biodiversity that connects several reserves together. Species we can hope to see include Bar-crested Antshrike, Turquoise Dacnis, Parker´s Antbird, Upper Magdalena Tapaculo, White- bellied Antpitta, Gorgeted Wood-Quail, Lined Quail-Dove, Rufous-rumped Antwren, Black Inca, Yellow-throated Spadebill, Mountain Grackle and Yellow-breasted Brush-Finch. The second reserve is the Cerulean Warbler Reserve located in the town of San Vicente de Chucuri, 3 hours from the city of Bucaramanga. Their lands are very fertile and the mountains that surround the town are mainly used for the production of coffee and cocoa, there are some areas in the mountains where native trees and small forests still grow and these areas are ideal for finding a number of good bird species like Niceforo´s Wren, Chestnut-bellied Hummingbird, Bar-crested Antshrike, Turquoise Dacnis, Beautiful Woodpecker, Yellow-browed Shrike-Vireo, Yellow-tufted Dacnis, Black-headed Brush-Finch, Scrub Greenlet, Rufous-naped Greenlet, Large-billed Seed-Finch, Andean Motmot and Spectacled Thrush. Birding these 2 reserves will take all day and we will head back to our hotel for dinner in the evening.
Night at Quinta Tibigaro Hotel. B, L, D

Day 8 – Coffee Crops in San Vicente de Chucuri – Ocaña
During the morning we will revisit the Coffee plantations in San Vicente to try and find any birds we may have missed the previous day. We will then slowly make our way birding all the way to Ocaña where we will spend the next 2 nights.
Night at Tarigua Hotel. B, L, D

Day 9 – Bushbird Reserve
Today we will spend the day at the Bushbird Reserve which is located 25 minutes from the municipality of Ocaña in Norte de Santander, the reserve is composed of 35 hectares and holds the last patches of sub – Andean and montane forests of the area and in turn protects the populations of threatened birds such as the enigmatic Recurve-billed Bushbird, this species is in danger of extinction and Until 2007, the bird was almost unknown in life apart from earlier specimens it had only been seen in life once at an army ant swarm in Colombia in 1965. The reserve has a large vegetation cover composed of the bamboo species Rhipidoclarum racemiflorum which is of great importance because the main floor in which the Bushbird lives. There is a huge number of birds to see in this reserve so we will spend most of the day trying to locate as many species as possible. Other than the Bushbird a few of the other species we hope to see are Grey-throated Warbler, Striped-breasted Spinetail, Lined Quail-Dove, Klage´s Antbird, Chestnut-bellied Thrust, Orange-billed Nightingale-thrust, White-bibbed Manakin, Band-tailed Guan, Chestnut-capped Brush Finch, Black-headed Tanager, Burnished-buff Tanager, Speckled Tanager, Yellow- legged Thrush, Moustached Puffbird, Yellow-bellied Siskin and Cliff Flycatcher.
Night at Tarigua Hotel. B, L, D

Day 10 – Cesar Savanna – Baranquilla
Today we will make our way back to Baranquilla to end the tour. We will make several birding stops along the way to see if we can pick up some new species but this day will be mainly used as a driving day as this is a long journey.
Night in Estelar Alto Prado. B, L, D 

Day 11 – Departure day – 22nd Feb