Among the world’s finest destinations for mammals, Colombia is home to a mouth-watering array of rarities, including spectacled bear, mountain tapir and an extensive array of primates, all alongside some world-class birds and scenery.
Our pioneering trip visits two exceptional wildlife areas, the paramo habitat of Chingaza National Park and the subtropical cloud forest of Otun Quimbaya, a small community-run reserve. Our two principal target species, spectacled bear and mountain tapir, are among South America’s most charismatic and elusive mammals, but on this itinerary, we have excellent chances to see both. In Chingaza National Park, our quest is to find the remarkable spectacled bear among a beautiful montane landscape of paramo, while in Otun Quimbaya we have found an excellent location to observe the normally very shy and thick-furred mountain tapir.
Whilst spectacled bear and mountain tapir are our principal targets, there's an excellent diversity of other sought-after and little-known mammals we hope to find, including the only recently described to science, olinguito, and the endemic stump-tailed porcupine at a new cloud forest reserve. Other highlights include lemurine night monkey, kinkajou, Central American woolly opossum, mountain paca, common opossum, crab-eating fox and nine-banded armadillo.
In addition to the mammals, Colombia is famous for having the greatest diversity of bird species of any country, and when mammal activity is quiet, we will invariably turn our attention to the huge variety of bird species on show. Highlights on this itinerary include the dazzling multicoloured tanager, sword-billed hummingbird and red-ruffed fruitcrow. Extensions before and after the tour give you the chance of seeing even more endemic primates, including the fabulous cotton-top tamarin. Contact us for more details.
Typical Itinerary
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Day 1:
Depart UK
Depart the UK on an overnight flight to Bogotá.
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Day 2:
Arrive Colombia, explore habitats around Bogotá
On arrival in Bogotá, we travel the short distance to Laguna Tabacal for our first Colombian birding. After lunch, we have some relaxed time at the hotel, giving us time to rest after the overnight flight and to acclimatise. An optional guided city tour of Bogotá is available
Accommodation: Hilton Garden Inn, Bogotá, 2-nights
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Day 3:
Day to enjoy the birdlife around Bogotá
Early this morning we transfer to a lush garden on the outskirts of the city such as the Reserva Fute for our first taste of Colombian birdlife. One of the numerous special hummingbirds to frequent this spot is the golden-bellied starfrontlet, one of the most iridescent and colourful species. Later we visit the La Florida Regional Park on the edge of the city which is an important wetland offering an excellent selection of different birdlife including the local endemic Bogota rail.
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Day 4:
Travel to Chingaza National Park
This morning, we leave the city before first light and travel up into the spectacular Chingaza National Park, where we begin our quest to find the elusive spectacled bear. We begin searching for spectacled bear in the páramo habitat of Chingaza National as soon as we arrive in the park.
Accommodation: Simple guesthouse in Chingaza National Park, 3-nights
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Days 5-6
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Explore Chingaza National Park for spectacled bear
We devote two full days and two half days searching for spectacled bear in the páramo habitat of Chingaza National Park. This involves long hours in the field and at times there may be few other mammals visible, but we're also likely to see white-tailed deer, little red brocket deer and possibly western mountain coati. Our bear search is aided by the use of thermal imaging technology, which significantly improves the chances of us locating our quarry. Indeed, the possibility of finding bears is excellent, and we’ll have the highest quality Swarovski telescope from which to soak up and enjoy any potential sightings! Chingaza is perhaps the best location in South America to look for Andean (or spectacled) bears, and to date all our groups have been successful with sightings.
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Day 7:
Chingaza & hummingbird garden in Bogotá
Today we have a final morning to search for the bears in the park before descending and making our way to a superb hummingbird garden en route to Bogotá, home to several jaw-dropping species. These include the coppery-bellied puffleg, blue-throated starfrontlet and the spectacular sword-billed hummingbird. We then return to Bogotá for a night in a comfortable hotel.
Accommodation: Hilton Garden Inn, 1-night
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Day 8:
Transfer to Otún Quimbaya
This morning, we transfer to the Bogotá airport to take a short flight to Pereira and, upon arrival, transfer to our accommodation near the Otún Quimbaya reserve. After settling in to our accommodation we can enjoy some birding in the local forest, home to many endemic birds including crested ant-tanager, multicoloured tanager, chestnut wood-quail, and Cauca guan. The reserve is widely considered to be one of the finest place to see the rare red-ruffed fruitcrow, which we also look for. This evening, we begin our search for the park’s star mammal, the mountain tapir, on a dusk drive into the forest.
Accommodation: Casa Hotel Kumanday, 3 nights
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Days 9-10
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Explore Otún Quimbaya Reserve for mountain tapir
We devote two full days to the search for the little-known mountain tapir, mostly searching in the early mornings and at night, gently on foot (no steep slopes) and with the use of open-top jeeps. Several tapirs frequent a particular area of the forest, attracted by a vegetable garden, offering good chances of close sightings. Again, our search is enhanced with the use of thermal imaging technology. Other mammal highlights here include kinkajou and the recently described olinguito, lemurine night monkey, brown-eared woolly and common opossums, crab-eating fox, Hoffman’s two-toed sloth, both red and Andean squirrels and Colombian red howler monkeys.
This habitat is also superb for birds such as moustached antpitta, red-ruffed fruitcrow and rufescent screech-owl.
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Day 11:
Otún Quimbaya Reserve & transfer to Santa Rosa de Cabal
We have a final early morning to search for tapirs and nocturnal mammals today. After returning to the guesthouse, we can also enjoy a little birding or rest before making our way to our next lodge. From Otun, we transfer around two hours to our next destination of Santa Rosa de Cabal, where we enjoy a relaxed afternoon in preparation for a spotlighting session. Our hotel has a number of thermal hot spring pools which are perfect to relax in. After an early dinner, we head out on foot, exploring the hotel's private entrance road, which is surrounded by verdant cloud forest habitat. Here we target several special arboreal mammals including olinguito and stump-tailed porcupine, in addition to other possible mammals including mountain paca and the highly elusive pacarana.
Accommodation: Termales de Santa Rosa, 2-nights
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Day 12:
Exploring the Termales de Santa Rosa forests
Having been out late last night, we enjoy a relaxed breakfast and morning, with time to soak in the thermal springs for those who want. Later in the day, there's the option to search for Colombian red howler monkey and Andean squirrel. There will surely be some excellent birds on show as well, with mixed species flocks of colourful tanagers a distinct possibility here. This evening, we again continue looking for nocturnal mammals along the road by spotlight. We hope to find both stump-tailed porcupines and olinguitos feeding in cecropia trees at the roadside, and there are further possibilities of finding mountain tapir, the strange and rare Olalla rat and mountain paca.
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Day 13:
Final morning at Termales de Santa Rosa & Depart Colombia
We have a full morning to relax and enjoy the hotel. After a delicious lunch, we make our way to Pereira airport, where we take a short flight to Bogotá for onward international connections.
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Day 14:
Arrive UK
