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Ecuador | Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve & Lodge | Birds Galore

Ecuador | Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve & Lodge | Birds Galore

Top Birding Ecotours
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Highlights

- Visit to the Cock-of-the-Rock lek

- Visit to Hummingbird Gardens

- Stay in the comfortable Bellavista Lodge,  with one night at another comfortable location in the northwest

- Travel with an experienced  bilingual birder guide

- Explore many different locations with different birding and wildlife highlights within the northwest

- Discover many colourful and  endemic species on the tour!!!

Overview

CLOUD FOREST PARADISE

NORTHWESTERN ECUADOR BIRDS GALORE

STAY IN OUR UNIQUE LODGE  – ALSO INCLUDES ONE NIGHT IN A HOTEL AT LOWER ELEVATION

5 DAYS / 4 NIGHTS

Our 5-day trip is a wonderful way to get to understand the special environment of a cloud forest and its myriad birds – so close to Quito – only one hour 50 minutes away!  This “birds galore” trip also travels down to lower elevations for different species, giving plenty of time in each area!

We offer our guests a unique stay in paradise, above the forest canopy, surrounded by myriads of hummingbirds!

You will enjoy our generous servings of gourmet food, the fabulous views of forest and mountains, and our extensive network of safe, well-marked trails, and the little-travelled dirt roads that goes along the ridge.

ITINERARY:

Day 1:

6.15/ 6:30h: Departure from your hotel.

Arrival at Bellavista and breakfast.

Settle in, and take a reconnaissance hike into the forest and trails. Natural history / birding emphasis. Lunch.

Afternoon:  Forest hike – discover the ecology of this mysterious forest – and/or bird watching. Dinner.

This evening, a good chance for some special mammal species around the immediate lodge. The Olinguito, only discovered to science in 2013, then Kinkajoo, White-eared Possum and more! Overnight: Bellavista Lodge Meals: B, L, D

Day 2:

6.15 / 6.30h: Early morning bird hike. This is the best time of day to discover  Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan ,  Toucan Barbet,  Masked Trogon,  Turquoise Jay, just to name a few.

And the Tayra (giant weasel) is usually seen early in the day.

8:00h: Breakfast

Birding and / or natural history discoveries in Bellavista (shared services).

Lunch

Afternoon: New areas within and immediately around our reserve to discover! Dinner

Day 3:

Visit to an easily accessible Cock-of-the-Rock reserve – experience the raucous calls and fabulous colours of the  males as they dance and display!

Breakfast of local specialities: “bolon de verde” and cheese pasties.

Then discover some of the otherwise usually elusive Antpitta species, always rather amazing!

Lunch, then visit  a famous  hummingbird garden : known for its  feeders  full of hummingbirds of 10-12 different species, sometimes more! Also excellent views of varied tanagers, Red-headed Barbet, sometimes Golden-headed Quetzal and much more.

Overnight: Bellavista Lodge Meals: B, L, D

Day 4:.-

5:30 departure to a nearby Bird Photography Garden – truly  superb photography opportunities

Box Lunch

San Tadeo Hummingbird Garden,

Short visit to Milpe reserve:  easy birding- Toucans and the Rufous Motmot often seen at close quarters.

Dinner and overnight at a comfortable hotel,  in the lower elevation  Silanche Region.

Day 5:

Full day birding in Rio Silanche reserve, with a visit to a nreserve where the Long-wattled Umbrellabird is usually seen.

Late PM drop off in Quito

End of the trip!

Bellavista Accommodation

STANDARD
SUPERIOR SUITE
Prices Per Person

What to bring:

  • T-shirts or comfortable blouses/shirts
  • Sweater or fleece for the evenings
  • Quick drying trousers (blue jeans not   recommended)
  • Lightweight socks
  • Change of clothes
  • Sunhat and sunscreen
  • Rain poncho (a few available if    needed)
  • Camera
  • Rubber boots are provided – to size 47 (few pairs in large sizes)
  • Binoculars recommended (available for rent)
  • Water bottle for hikes
  • Small daypack for hikes
  • Flashlight and batteries
  • Plastic bags to protect camera, etc.

What is included:

  • 14 meals, starting with breakfast Day 1, and finishing with lunch on Day 5.
  • 4-night standard accommodation (or Superior accommodation option for the 3 nights spent in Bellavista)
  • Shared Naturalist Guide Service at Bellavista, private guide for excursions beyond Bellavista, shared round trip transportation from Quito
  • Access to 700-hectare Reserve
  • Private transportation for excursions.
  • All entrance fees to all visited places.

What is not included:

Drinks, tips, personal items, other services.

Note: Hiking / birding  routes are flexible.

Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve & Lodge

richard@2by2holidays.com

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Ethics

At Terra Incognita we support tours that do good in the world. They must help conserve the environment, support local people and provide educational opportunities for guests and staff, or be actively working to improve in these areas.

What conservation activities do you support through the tour, and your wider operations?

As the first private reserve to enter the National System of Protected Areas as of July 2019,  Bellavista can be considered a pioneer in private land and forest protection within  Ecuador.

Bellavista Lodge exists as an ecotourism operation with its main goal being to make conservation and cloud forest preservation possible.

With this new designation, the view of Bellavista is to protect our forest forever and to help other private reserves gain the same status across Ecuador.

The northwestern region where we bird is part of the new (2018)  Biosphere Reserve "Andean Choco of Pichincha" , we consider ourselves actively involved in working to potentialize projects that can be developed under this umbrella in our northwestern region.

How does the tour support local people?

Some of the guides that Bellavista employs have been positioned and trained buy Bellavista.

Bellavista employs local drivers for transportation , and Lodge staff is largely from local towns.

What type of environmental education activities do you incorporate into your tour?

Learning about local conservation efforts not only a Bellavista but also beyond. We are part of  important broad conservation efforts to protect the threatened Spectacled Bear (The Corridor of the Spectacled Bear), and inform people as part of this tour about the innovative, sustainable local governance efforts that place emphasis on stopping potential mining concessions in the region,  improving education at all levels, and developing sustainable farming options.

Top 5 achievements

- To have created an ecolodge that strives to have a minimal footprint in the local area

- To have protected over 400 hectares (4 square km) of cloud forest through direct purchase over the past 18 years

- Being declared the first private reserve to enter the subcategory of private protected areas within Ecuador´s National System of Protected  Areas (347 hectares, or 3.47 square km of montane cloud forest - the majority of the land we protect as one contiguous block )

- To be given "Distintivo Q" status as a lodge within the greater Quito region that promotes sustainable practices

- To have become  and still be (both as a lodge and personally)  a leader in local attitude change pro-conservation mentality change amongst many if the local people.

Top Ethical Birding Ecotours

Company Name

Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve & Lodge

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About Company

Bellavista Cloud Forest Lodge and Reserve is the pioneer ecolodge in the Tandayapa Valley , near Mindo , Northwestern Ecuador, at under two hours from  Ecuador´s capital, Quito, and from its airport. Set up as a Lodge back in 1995, it is famous for its incredible diversity of birds, as well as being the best location to observe the Olinguito, the first new mammal species in the Americas to be described to science in 2013. Scientific studies reveal new species - 70 species of moths in the Noctuidae family were discovered in nine months by an Austrian entomologist in 2015. Bellavista is the pioneer ecolodge of the Tandayapa valley,  and offers comfortable lodging and dining within our own reserve of  over 400 hectares  (over 1000 acres). We work extensively with the local community, and have trained various local young people as bilingual naturalist and birding guides . Importantly, as well as the lodge, Bellavista reserve has of July 2019 been declared the first private reserve to enter the National System of Protected Areas, which gives the cloud forest we protect, protection for ever under Ecuadorian law.

Bellavista specializes in packages that include transport and naturalist / birding guide service, both for nature-lovers and for serious birders. Shorter packages are based at the Lodge,  while longer tours also specialize in visiting other areas of natural and birding interest.

Cost

STÁNDARD ACCOMMODATION:

2 pax: US$1380 / PERSON

(REDUCTIONS FOR LARGER GROUPS)

SUPERIOR: ACCOMMODATION:
> 2 pax: US$1480/ PERSON

(REDUCTIONS FOR LARGER GROUPS)

Group size

2 TO 8 PEOPLE

richard@2by2holidays.com

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    About Terra Incognita

    We believe that ecotourism can be a powerful force for good in the world, and seek to promote the best examples of ecotourism worldwide.

    Our mission is to empower a global community that travels for good.

    Our vision is a world where tourism drives positive change for people and wildlife.

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