This extensive photography workshop led by Alex Hyde and Nick Garbutt has been specially designed to maximise time in some of the finest wildlife locations and habitats in Ecuador to create some exciting photographic opportunities.
We begin by travelling into the Amazon, which offers an array of different experiences to start this workshop. Located along the Napo River, our location lies in the heart of Yarina Ecological Reserve, adjacent to Yasuni National Park in the Upper Amazon Basin. This area is particularly renowned for its micro-habitat diversity, which in turn means it supports an abundance and wide selection of reptiles, frogs, insects and other invertebrates. Bird and mammal diversity is also excellent, and we can expect to see a variety of primates, potentially two and three-toed sloths, in addition to toucans, aracaris, tanagers, kingfishers, hoatzins and various raptors.
We then venture to the buffer zone of Sumaco National Park, on the lower Eastern slopes of the Andes and are based in a secluded area, where bird diversity in general is very high, the highlight being a spectacular Andean cock-of-the-rock lek, where as many as 20 of more garrulous males, can be photographed displaying at eye-level from canopy platforms. Within the lodge grounds, numerous species of hummingbird visit the lodge feeders on a daily basis, troops of Graells' tamarins pass through, and a considerable diversity of frogs, lizards and other reptiles can be seen along adjacent trails. In addition, the lodge has light traps that attract a wonderful array of moths and other insects.
From Sumaco we head to the high elevations of the Andes and the paramo habitats near Antisana National Park. Here, with luck, we may see Andean or spectacled bears and Andean condors riding the thermals around the peaks. Other higher-elevation specialists include the giant hummingbird, and we hopefully also have the opportunity to photograph the utterly amazing sword-billed hummingbird, which in relation to body size, has the longest beak of any bird.
We conclude our tour by traversing the Continental Divide to the cloud forests on the western slopes of the Andes. Here the forests are noticeably different to their counterparts on the eastern slopes, so the species composition is different and therefore a wealth of new and enthralling subjects await. Not only is the cloud forest incredibly rich, but it also exhibits extremely high levels of endemism. Our lodge and the surrounding areas are prime places to see numerous new hummingbird species, tanagers, toucanets, mountain toucans and toucan barbets amongst many other birds. There are also glass frogs and a variety of reptiles.
Typical Itinerary
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Day 1:
Fly to Ecuador & arrive Quito
Today we depart the UK on international flights to Ecuador. We arrive in the country’s capital city, Quito, where we're met and transferred to our overnight accommodation nearby.
Accommodation: Airport Hotel, 1-night
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Day 2:
Fly to Coca & transfer to Napo River
We take a short flight from Quito to Coca, on the banks of the Napo River in the Upper Amazon Basin. From Coca, we continue by covered motorboat down the river for around one hour to Yarina Ecological Reserve. Our lodge is a short boat trip down a side channel from the main river.
Accommodation: Yarina Eco Rainforest Lodge, 5-nights
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Days 3-6
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Photography in the Ecuadorian Amazon
With four full days in the Upper Amazon Basin, we have plenty of time for an immersive photographic experience. As with so many rainforest lodges, there's so much wildlife to see within the immediate vicinity of the lodge and a number of species are habituated and relatively easy to see, including birds such as the hoatzin and primates like squirrel monkeys and marmosets.
There's also an observation platform offering views of the rainforest canopy. Early morning visits can serve up furious and bewildering bird and primate watching activity, with species impossible to see from ground level suddenly in plain view.
Macro enthusiasts will be in their element, and we spend time looking for poison-dart frogs, other rainforest frogs, reptiles, butterflies and other insects. Here the use of creative-flash techniques is likely to be useful and if this is something you're unsure about, we can take time demonstrating and explaining the required techniques.
Also, if conditions are conducive, we may spend a day visiting a clay lick located downstream on the Napo River which is visited by macaws and other parrots.
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Day 7:
Transfer to Sumaco National Park
This morning, we depart Yarina Eco Rainforest Lodge and return to Coca by boat and then drive to the buffer zone of Sumaco National Park (3-4 hours), gradually ascending from lower to middle eastern Andean slope elevations.
Accommodation: Wild Sumaco Lodge, 4-nights
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Days 8-10
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Photographic Sessions in Sumaco National Park
We're situated in one of the last remnants of Chocó rainforest, where the biodiversity is breathtaking. The numbers speak for themselves: over 400 bird species, 270 mammals, some 200 amphibians, over 200 reptiles and over 1,000 insect species have been documented in the area. With the help of lodge guides, we aim to track down a cross-section of this to help build an impressive portfolio of images. It's likely the emphasis will be on smaller, more accessible subjects such as birds at feeders, frogs, lizards and various invertebrates, and we begin to get to grips with a variety of photography techniques that allow these subjects to be captured to best effect.
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Day 11:
Return to Quito
In the morning, we leave for Quito, a journey of around six hours, that takes us through various forest elevational zones and high into the Andes, adjacent to Antisana National Park, where elements of paramo (high Andean ‘Alpine’ habitat) will be evident. We then drop into the outskirts of Quito where we stay for the night.
Accommodation: Wyndham Quito Airport, 2-nights
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Day 12:
Full day at Antisana National Park
This morning, we depart Quito early and drive high into the paramo near Antisana National Park. Here we visit Antisanilla Ecological Reserve, where there's a reasonable chance of seeing Andean or spectacled bears and Andean condors. Other high elevation specialists include Ecuadorian hillstar and giant hummingbird.
We have lunch at a restaurant close to the reserve, that has feeders attracting various hummingbirds including shining sunbeam, Tyrian metal-tail and giant hummingbird. In the afternoon, we return to the outskirts of Quito.
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Day 12:
Transfer to Mindo
After another early start, we drive through the Central Highland Valley and climb high into the Andes of the Pacific slope to Zuro Loma (‘bamboo hill’) Reserve (two hours) located on the upper slopes of the Pichincha Volcano. The main focus here's to see and photograph the spectacular sword-billed hummingbird, that sporadically comes to feeders, as do other hummingbirds like black-tailed trainbearer, shining sunbeam, Tyrian metal-tail and buff-winged starfrontlet. The reserve also has hides/feeding stations for rarities like chestnut-naped antpitta and Equatorial antpitta.
From Zuro Loma, we begin descending the Pacific slope into the cloud forest region of Mindo. The journey to our lodge takes around two hours. We stay here for five nights.
Accommodation: Septimo Paraiso Lodge, 5-nights
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Days 14-17
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Photographic sessions in Mindo Cloud Forest
The cloud forests of Mindo and are one of Ecuador’s top wildlife locations, with a wealth of options in the vicinity. In addition to being a world-renowned birding destination, it also supports a vast variety of other species, including reptiles, frogs, butterflies, other insects and invertebrates and orchids. Indeed, within the forest environs of our lodge, diversity includes glass frogs and a variety of reptiles including the rare and recently rediscovered Ecuadorian horned anole or Pinocchio lizard.
During our stay in the Mindo area, we combine photography sessions in the forests within the immediate vicinity of the lodge, with half-day or day trips to nearby forest locations. Many options and choices are made at the time based on local knowledge. These sites include localities where spectacular species such as plate-billed mountain toucan and toucan barbet can be photographed.
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Day 18:
Departure
Today, we return to Quito airport in time to check in for our return overnight flights back to the UK, via Madrid.
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Day 19:
Arrive UK
