Ecuador Birding & Photography: Chocó to Amazon Circuit

Landing at Quito’s Mariscal Sucre International Airport, you are met for a private transfer to Tababela and the Zaysant Ecolodge, a hacienda-style lodge in the inter-Andean valley. After settling in, an unhurried stroll around the lodge grounds offers a first taste of Ecuador’s birds, with species such as Sparkling Violetear, Black-tailed Trainbearer, Great Thrush, Saffron Finch and Blue-and-yellow Tanager appearing easily. A tour orientation covers the itinerary ahead, followed by an open dinner at the lodge and an early night before departing into the western Andes.

After breakfast, travel west from Quito, descending the Andean foothills into the humid montane Chocó toward the Tandayapa Valley. At the valley entrance, visit the Alambi Hummingbird Feeders at Alambi Reserve, with close views of hummingbirds among flowering vegetation, and enjoy lunch facing the feeders. In the afternoon, climb the Tandayapa Valley to Bellavista Lodge at 2,200 m, where lodge feeders attract more hummingbirds and the surrounding cloud forest offers a first listen to the montane Chocó. Dinner is at the lodge, followed by two nights at Bellavista Lodge or a similar property.

After breakfast, spend a full day on foot exploring the Tandayapa Cloud-Forest Trails in primary montane Chocó forest at around 2,100 m. Reserve trails offer chances to watch understory species, while road edges make it easier to follow mixed-species flocks known locally as rondas. Back at Bellavista Lodge, hummingbird feeders continue the day’s observations. Dinner is served at the lodge as the cloud forest settles into night, with two nights at this cloud-forest lodge in the Tandayapa Valley.

After breakfast, Day 4 begins with a photography session at the hides of the private Chocó Bird Reserve in the Tandayapa Valley, where toucans, tanagers, hummingbirds, barbets and warblers come close. In the afternoon, visit the hides of the small San Tadeo Reserve, focusing on tanagers and other passerines. The order of visits stays flexible depending on weather and known regional opportunities. A short transfer then climbs to the heights of the Mindo Valley for dinner and the night at Sachatamia Lodge, the base for the next morning’s early descent to Paz de las Aves.

After an included breakfast, the day begins at Paz de las Aves, where the morning is spent at the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek and along owner Ángel’s trails meeting Giant, Yellow-breasted and Moustached antpittas. A generic lunch follows before an afternoon at the Fruttitour photo blind near Pedro Vicente Maldonado, watching lowland Chocó species. In the evening, transfer to the Mashpi Valley, arriving at a forest lodge for dinner at the Mashpi Amagusa Reserve Lodge and two nights in the Mashpi–Amagusa Reserve.

After breakfast, spend a full day inside the Mashpi Amagusa Reserve, a mixed protection zone in the Mashpi Valley at about 1,400 m. With the reserve owner, follow his knowledge of where flagship birds can be found, including fruiteaters, solitaires, Long-wattled Umbrellabird, Moss-backed Tanager and Choco Vireo. The reserve sits among original vegetation and blends lowland and montane Chocó influences. Return for dinner at the Mashpi Amagusa Reserve Lodge.

After breakfast, the day begins at Mashpi-Amagusa Reserve feeders, watching for shy understory Choco endemics. A mid-morning transfer then descends to the Milpe Bird Sanctuary on the lower western slope, where trails pass manakin leks and frequent mega-flocks, with hummingbird, tanager and toucan feeders between walks. Late afternoon, the route crosses the inter-Andean valley and climbs toward Antisana, trading cloud forest for open high Andes. Dinner and the night are at Tambo Condor, a hacienda at 3,500 m in the Antisana area, ahead of the reserve’s early morning.

After breakfast, search for Andean Condors from an observation platform in the Antisana Ecological Reserve, then explore the high-Andean páramo and La Mica lagoon for hummingbirds, passerines and waterbirds. Lunch near the hummingbird feeders below Antisana is followed by a quiet attempt to spot the rare Spectacled Bear. In the afternoon, transfer to Papallacta, where dinner is open and a soak in the Termas de Papallacta hot springs offers a natural close before a night at the lodge.

After breakfast, Day 9 begins with birding at Papallacta Pass, exploring páramo, lagoons and Polylepis woodland in the Cayambe-Coca reserve, with an optional visit to the Papallacta thermal complex. The route continues downhill for lunch at the Guango Reserve and its hummingbird garden, then follows an eastern-slope descent through elfin forest, high-Andean forest and cloud forest to San Isidro Lodge. Dinner is served at San Isidro Lodge, your base for two nights in the eastern Andes cloud forest, with feeders and a hide nearby.

After breakfast, spend a full day exploring the eastern cloud forest around San Isidro, where mist, humidity, epiphytes, mosses, orchids, bromeliads and cacti create habitat for frogs, birds and small mammals, moving at field pace with the forest setting the rhythm. In the afternoon, visit the Yanayacu scientific station, where a researcher presents projects on Ecuadorian bird reproductive biology and caterpillar parasites, and the caterpillars become an unexpected macro-photography subject. Return to San Isidro Lodge for dinner, your base for two nights on the eastern slope of the Andes, then head out after dinner to attempt to observe an owl of the Choliba group, possibly new to science.

The day begins with breakfast, then an early visit to the San Isidro hummingbird garden and lower hide, spending much of the morning observing and photographing birds before time around the feeders. Afterwards, a long transfer heads back across the inter-Andean valley, climbs to Papallacta Pass, and descends toward the high Amazon to WildSumaco Lodge, set in subtropical forest at 1,500 m in the buffer zone of Sumaco National Park. Dinner is at the lodge, where two nights are spent.

After breakfast, spend a full day exploring the WildSumaco Wildlife Sanctuary, where the Amazonian piedmont meets the high Andes. Walk road edges, humid subtropical forest trails and forest creeks, and visit the feeding areas and observation platforms in front of the lodge. The sanctuary’s conservation and research projects have documented many usually rare species. Return to WildSumaco Lodge, set at 1,500 m in the buffer zone of Sumaco National Park amid full subtropical Amazonian forest, for dinner and a second night.

After breakfast, a road transfer from WildSumaco descends toward the Ecuadorian Amazon, reaching Coca (Francisco de Orellana) with a boxed lunch along the way. From the Napo River docks, a motorized pirogue travels downriver for about three hours, the first immersion in this green universe. At the edge of Yasuní National Park, on Sani community territory, the group switches to paddle canoes and follows narrow blackwater channels to the lagoon. Check in at Sani Lodge at 250 m for four nights, with dinner at the lodge.

After breakfast, a paddle canoe and motorized pirogue transfer reaches the Napo River banks for the Añangu clay licks, where parrot species gather at an open riverbank saladero and a forest cave-like saladero. A terra firme trail near the second lick explores never-flooded forest. Lunch at Sani Lodge precedes an afternoon white-water river birding ride on the Napo, followed by a return through blackwater channels to Sani Lodge, with dinner closing the day.

At Sani Lodge, on the edge of Yasuní National Park, day 15 begins with breakfast before crossing the lagoon to the Amazon Canopy Tower, a 35 m structure on a Kapok tree flank offering unobstructed canopy views and easier sightings of canopy birds. Mid-morning brings a long varzea walk through seasonally flooded forest, followed by a late-afternoon trail between varzea and terra firme. After dinner at Sani Lodge, a torchlight night paddle searches dark channels for black caimans and nocturnal wildlife.

Begin with breakfast before exploring the Napo River Vegetation Islands, specialized ecosystems that evolve independently and host distinct species depending on their age, height and vegetation cover. After returning during the hottest hours, choose a final afternoon outing with your guide: canopy tower observation, a terra firme or varzea trail, or paddling the lagoon edges and blackwater channels. Following dinner at Sani Lodge, set out on a final night walk for nocturnal birds, a quiet close to your Amazon stay based at Sani Lodge near Yasuní National Park.

The final morning begins with an early paddle out of the blackwater channels, returning by canoe to the Napo River. At the national park limit, a motorized pirogue continues upstream toward Coca, arriving around noon. A boxed lunch covers the travel day before the flight from Coca to Quito, lifting out of the Amazon basin and across the Andes. On arrival, a transfer with French-speaking assistance brings the group to La Casona de la Ronda Boutique Hotel in Quito’s old town. Dinner is not included, leaving the evening free to explore the colonial streets.

Begin your final day with breakfast before a guided walk through Colonial and Historic Quito. The morning tour explores the city’s republican history, cultural mestizaje and lesser-known quarters, visiting Plaza de la Independencia and the esplanade of Plaza Santo Domingo while tracing Alexander von Humboldt’s 1802 stay in Quito. In the early afternoon, transfer to Quito Airport, where your journey ends with departure and a flight home.