Colombia has a vast expanse of Amazonian rainforest habitat, and it is best accessed via the town of Mitu. The town itself is a fabulous base to work from, with comfortable hotel accommodations in town (even air-conditioning!) and some of the most enjoyable local guides anywhere. The birding sites are easy to access and the birds are plentiful, with many near endemics, white sand specialists, terra firme specialists and many scarce species readily seen. With a total of 3 days to immerse ourselves in this prime birding area, we have more than enough time to visit all of the important birding areas.
Plum-throated, Spangled & Pompadour Cotingas, Guianan Cock-of-the-rock, Scarlet-shouldered Parrotlet, Amazonian Umbrellabird, Fiery Topaz, Pavonine Quetzal, Brown-banded, Bronzy & Paradise Jacamars, Black-bellied Thorntail, Rufous-throated & White-chinned Sapphires, Green-tailed Goldenthroat, Crested Eagle, Ornate Hawk-Eagle, White-chinned Woodcreeper, Rufous-tailed Xenops, Spot-backed Antwren, Imerri Warbling Antbird, Cinnamon Neopipo, Pale-bellied Mourner, Collared Gnatwren and Red-billed Ground Cuckoo (rare - more sightings are known from Mitu than anywhere else in the world), Tawny-tufted Toucanet, Orinoco Piculet, Bar-bellied Woodcreeper, Blackish-grey & Pearly Antshrike, 10 species of Antwren including Cherrie’s & Yellow-throated, Black Bushbird, 17 species of Antbirds including Black-chinned, Black-headed, Grey-bellied, White-plumed & Chestnut-crested, Saffron-crested Tyrant-Manakin, Black, Yellow-crested & Western Striped Manakins, Brown-headed Greenlet, Azure-naped Jay, White-bellied Dacnis, White-naped Seedeater, Plumbeous Euphonia.
white sand forest and terra firme forest
warm and humid
8 with 1 Rockjumper Leader
Our Mega tours are very fast-paced birding adventures designed for the dedicated lister and serious birder. The focus of the tour is to see as many of the endemics and area specials as possible in our given time. In order to cover the necessary route to maximise the species list we tend to spend a single night at most sites and travel large distances. There is very little down time aside from that spent driving from one site to the next. These tours are not suitable for dedicated or avid photographers; inexperienced or new birders; as well as anyone with serious mobility or health challenges.
comfortable hotel
medium with some tricky species
250+
average to good
Dusan is an outstanding guide. He consistently made sure that all of us saw each bird and knew its name. I have hearing and mild short-term memory problems and Dusan took specialefforts to be sure that these did not interfere with my birding success on the trip. Not only does Dusan know all of the Colombian birds by sight, but he knows all of their calls and is able to talk at length about their biology and behavior - that is, he is an excellent teacher, too. This is something that I appreciate greatly, as I am a retired college professor of biology and I recognize an excellent teacher when I see one in action. In addition to his skills as a guide, Dusan was tireless in making sure that the constantly-changing tour arrangements went smoothly from day to day. I am certain that we got every minute that was possible out in the field looking for new birds; this was the goal of the tour (1000 species seen in 30 days of birding). He has a very pleasant, enthusiastically-encouraging personality and is outstanding at promoting group coherence and morale in difficult and sometimes mildly-dangerous situations.
This was an excellent opportunity to see a part of Colombia that I hadnt visited. It was a vigorous schedule, as predicted; fortunately, participants could opt out of activities if they preferred. Our guides were both top rate, with complementary strengths. The result was a lot of birds, particularly endemics, seen. Accommodations were appropriate to each area. The van and driver were superb.
From the several members of the office staff to the actual tour itself, I have nothing but high praise for my Rockjumper experience. This was my first tour with Rockjumper, but I hope it won't be my last. Alison and Sarah were tremendously helpful. Rob Williams is as good a leader as I have ever experienced. He not only knows the birds, but he made sure that we all got to see them, showing patience way beyond what I thought necessary. When one of our participants lost his passport, Rob bent over backwards to help this hapless person, never complaining while doing so. Rob always told us what the plan was for the next day. When Plan A didn't pan out, he had Plan B ready. If something went askew, he handled it with aplomb, always keeping his sense of humour. Did I mention he showed us wonderful birds? Oh, we saw some beautiful ones!
Forrest Rowland was superb as usual. Both his birding skills and people skills are extraordinary.
Tuomas is a great guide and excellent with bird IDs and helping people see all of the birds as much as possible. He also managed to maintain group morale despite a very ambitious and exhausting itinerary.
Tour Leader: Stephan Lorenz
Tour price (Per person): USD2,995 * GBP2,400 * EUR2,789 * ZAR55,677
Single Supplement: USD130 * GBP104 * EUR121 * ZAR2,417
Flight costs: USD330 * GBP264 * EUR307 * ZAR6,135
Tour Leader: Lev Frid
Tour price (Per person): USD3,195 * GBP2,560 * EUR2,976 * ZAR59,395
Single Supplement: USD130 * GBP104 * EUR121 * ZAR2,417
Flight costs: USD380 * GBP304 * EUR354 * ZAR7,064
Colombia - Highlights (ECU replacement) 2024 - January 2024
Colombia - Northern Andes: Central Andes 2023 - October 2023
Colombia - Northern Andes: Medellin & surrounds 2023 - October 2023
Colombia - Northern Andes: Bogota & surrounds 2023 - October 2023
Colombia - Northern Andes: Santa Marta 2023 - September 2023
Colombia - Santa Marta Extension I 2023 - August 2023
Colombia - Highlights 2023 - August 2023
Colombia - Santa Marta Extension II 2022 - December 2022
Colombia - Northern Andes: Western & Central Andes 2022 - November 2022
Colombia - Northern Andes: Medellin & Magdalena Valley 2022 - November 2022
Colombia - Northern Andes: Bogota & surrounds 2022 - November 2022
Colombia - Highlights 2022 - September 2022
Colombia - Mega Birding Tour II 2021 - November 2021
Colombia - Mega Birding Tour I 2020 - January 2020
Colombia - Highlights 2019 - November 2019
Colombia - Santa Marta Extension 2019 - November 2019
Colombia - Perijá & Santa Marta Endemics (SGT) 2019 - October 2019
Colombia - Mega Birding Tour 2019 - February 2019
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