Colombia’s Essential Andes Birding Route: Cali to Manizales

Begin your journey with an arrival transfer from Cali Airport to Cali, settling into the city before an evening welcome dinner. The day closes with a salsa evening, followed by an overnight stay at a hotel in Cali, with the hotel name and exact location still to be confirmed. This first day introduces the rhythm of Cali through a relaxed arrival, a shared meal, and time to rest ahead of the tour.

Day 2 focuses on the Km 18 Farm Feeders, a birding route along the Western Cordillera ridge near Cali. After breakfast, visit five working farms where banana and corn feeders draw Multicolored Tanager and Chestnut Wood-quail to eye level, making it a rewarding stop for bird photographers in the cloud forest. Lunch and dinner are included, followed by an overnight stay at a hotel in the Km 18 area, a comfortable base near the farm feeders and the hummingbird and tanager gardens of the Km 18 birding grounds.

Day 3 begins with breakfast before heading to the Upper Anchicaya roadside for birding. Moving between forested pullouts, you listen for mixed flocks and look for Choco foothill species, adding field-birding depth to the Cali-based route. Lunch and dinner are included as generic meals. The day ends with an overnight stay at a hotel in the Km 18 area, a comfortable base on the Western Cordillera ridge near Cali, within reach of the farm feeders and the hummingbird and tanager gardens of the Km 18 birding grounds.

After breakfast, travel from Cali to Córdoba and ride motorised Brujitas rail-bikes along wooden tracks into the Pacific rainforest village of San Cipriano, a memorable community travel experience. Birding in San Cipriano’s warm lowland forest covers river edges and humid trails, where the bird community differs from cloud-forest feeders; look for Choco species including puffbirds, trogons, toucans, antbirds and, with luck and patience, Sapayoa. Lunch and dinner follow before overnight at a hotel in the Km 18 area, a comfortable base near Cali’s farm feeders and hummingbird and tanager gardens.

After included breakfast, enjoy guided birdwatching at Laguna de Sonso, Colombia’s largest remaining natural wetland in the Cauca Valley, searching lagoons, reedbeds and gallery forest for the Ruby-topaz Hummingbird, herons, jacanas, kingfishers and ibises. Following lunch, take a scenic 3.5-hour drive through the Cauca Valley toward Tatamá National Park, then a 4WD for the final 40 minutes from Pueblo Rico up to Montezuma ecolodge. On arrival, if time allows, a relaxed birding session around the gardens, feeders and nearby forest introduces the Chocó cloud forest, with tanagers, toucans and hummingbirds, before dinner at Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge Reserve.

After breakfast, head before sunrise into the upper reaches of Tatamá National Park for Montezuma High-Elevation Birding along the Montezuma Road, a slow-paced search for Gold-ringed Tanager, Black-and-gold Tanager, tapaculos, flowerpiercers and mountain tanagers. A packed lunch keeps you in the field, with a generic lunch and dinner also listed. The day closes at Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge Reserve near Manizales, a cloud forest reserve with hikes, wildlife and Andean views.

After breakfast included in the package, day seven explores the Montezuma Mid Elevation Birding route in Tatamá National Park, walking mid-elevation cloud forests along the Montezuma Road. The changing habitats support Chocó and Andean birdlife, with mixed flocks and regional specialties such as Toucan Barbet, Black-chinned Mountain Tanager and Orange-breasted Fruiteater. A packed lunch keeps you in the field, with a generic lunch and dinner listed separately. The day connects to Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge Reserve near Manizales, offering cloud forest hikes, wildlife and Andean views for eco-adventurers.

Begin with breakfast before continuing low-elevation birding in Tatamá National Park at Montezuma, where warmer Chocó forests offer chances to look for Club-winged Manakin, Beautiful Jay, Chocó Vireo, tanagers, woodcreepers and flycatchers. After lunch, leave Montezuma for a 3.5-hour drive to the west slope of the Central Andes, with roadside stops for Torrent Duck, Turquoise Dacnis and White-capped Dipper, before reaching Otún-Quimbaya Sanctuary near La Florida. Dinner and an overnight stay follow in La Florida, a village base near the sanctuary.

Begin with breakfast before a morning at Otún Quimbaya Flora and Fauna Sanctuary, where a local guide leads forest trails and quiet roads through Andean cloud forest. Look for the endemic Cauca Guan and Red-ruffed Fruitcrow, with chances of Multicolored Tanager, Torrent Duck and mixed flocks. After lunch, drive to Manizales via the Los Termales road through coffee country. Dinner follows, then overnight at a hotel in Manizales, a convenient base for Río Blanco, Hacienda El Bosque and higher páramo days.

After breakfast, enjoy morning birdwatching at Rio Blanco Reserve, starting with its Antpitta Feeding Stations, where a local guide helps you look for Bicolored, Chestnut-crowned, Slate-crowned and Brown-banded Antpittas. Later, afternoon birding at Rio Blanco focuses on cloud forest feeders and trails, with hummingbirds such as Long-tailed Sylph and Collared Inca, plus forest species like Masked Saltator and Rusty-faced Parrot. Lunch and dinner are included, and the day ends with an overnight stay at a hotel in Manizales, a convenient base for exploring the reserve.

Begin with breakfast before a morning at Hacienda el Bosque, where the Equatorial Antpitta experience unfolds at a managed feeding station, with chances to watch for Grey-breasted Mountain-Toucan, mountain tanagers and brushfinches. The afternoon focuses on hummingbird feeders and forest-edge photography, with Sword-billed Hummingbird, Great Sapphirewing and Shining Sunbeam among possible visitors. Later, birdwatching in the elfin forest near Termales del Ruiz follows trails through waterfalls and high-Andean vegetation, searching for mountain tanagers, flowerpiercers and the elusive Tawny Antpitta. Lunch, dinner and an overnight stay in Manizales complete the day.

Start with breakfast before birdwatching in Los Nevados National Park from Termales del Ruiz, exploring high-altitude paramo roads and grasslands for species like Buffy Helmetcrest, Rainbow-bearded Thornbill and Rufous-fronted Parakeet amid volcanic scenery. After lunch, leave the Los Nevados highlands and travel west from Manizales to Riosucio, descending through forest and coffee country. Dinner is followed by an overnight stay at a hotel in Riosucio, a staging point between the highlands and the Jardin road birding.

Begin with breakfast before a feeder session at Mirador El Roble, a family-run reserve with hummingbird and tanager feeders, kept patient and flexible around natural bird activity and light. Travel the Riosucio to Jardín road through Antioquia’s coffee hills, stopping at Mirador El Roble and the Yellow-eared Parrot reserve. Lunch and dinner are included along the way, then continue to the flowery town of Jardín. Overnight at a hotel in Jardín, close to the Yellow-eared Parrot reserve and the next morning’s cock-of-the-rock lek.

After breakfast, consider an optional afternoon visit to Jardín Rocas Nature Reserve, a short walk from the main square, for a chance to observe Andean cock-of-the-rock. Continue toward Medellín with an obligatory stop in endangered Cauca River tropical dry forest patches, where Antioquia Wren, Grayish Piculet, Apical Flycatcher and Colombian Chachalaca may be found among dry-forest specialities. Lunch and dinner are included before the transfer to Medellín, where you overnight at a hotel for the first city introduction.