Ecuador is the species densest country in South America. Incredibly close to 1600 species inhabits this rather small country. Tropical and subtropical forest on both side of the andes, interandean valleys, patches of temperate forests, paramos, endemic bird areas in the south, including the Tumbesian region abides for Mega diverse country. Kolibri Expeditions offers a series of good value trips to Ecuador aiming to more or less cover all the endemics and special birds in the country. We use a combination of lodges where available and inexpensive accomodation. The objective is to see the birds - not to be ruined.. We have several years of experience of mainland Ecuador and particularly Galapagos, in spite that we lately have concentrated more on our tours to Peru.
We have set up a filming expedition to Tiputini to film Army Ants for Discovery (Creeping crawlies)
All trips are run on request. Please don´t refrain to ask us about details that are not listed here.
All endemics of Galapagos in 9 days! While birds do play games on you at times we will do our utmost to provide all the endemics for you. Galapagos is usually extremely expensive as a birding destination, and most set itineraries do not offer a complete tour for birds. The "fancy" bird tour operators have very long Galapagos programs, which means limiting days (and money) for birding on the mainland. We can offer a very good price for a one week Galapagos trip, which will virtually be a clean-up for 1990$ including flights, taxes and park fees and specialist bird guide. In 1997 we made a tour similar to this and we saw all the endemic birds of the archipelago.
Galapagos is extremely expensive as a birding destination, and most set itineraries do not offer a complete tour for birds. The "fancy" bird tour operators have very long Galapagos programs, which means limiting days (and money) for birding on the mainland. We can offer a very good price for a one week Galapagos trip, which will virtually be a clean-up for 1990$ including flights, taxes and park fees and specialist bird guide. In 1997 we made a tour similar to this and we saw all the endemic birds of the archipelago.
Day 1. Flight Quito/Guayquil-Baltra Island. Most of day the afternoon in the highlands of Santa Cruz looking for Vegetariian Finch and Large-billed Tree-Finch, as well as Paint-billed Crake.
Day 2. Morning additional search in the highlands for Galapagos Rail. In the afternoon you will visit Bartolomé island where you often can see Galapagis Penguins. Good snorkeling.
Day 3. Isabela and Fernandina. In the early morning we will make search for Mangrove Finch. Later we will make some landings and see Galapagos Penguins and Flightless Cormorants.
Day 4. Plazas and North Seymore. At Plazas we will see the Galapagos Land Iguana and North Seymore is very good for colonies of Magnificent Frigatebirds, Swallow-tailed Gull and Blue-footed Booby.
Day 5. Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz highlands will be searched for Paint-billed Crake, Galapagos Rail, Woodpecker and Vegetarian Finch as well as wild Tortoise. Later in the afternoon we will be taken to the Darwin Station, where we will learn about the conservation issues on the islands. The cactus scrub here is also good for a number of Darwin Finches.
Day 6. In the morning we will take a bus up the slopes of Floreana and make a short walk to trawl for the Medium Tree-Finch. We will make a short visit to Port Office Bay. Later we will encircle to Champion to see the endemic Charles Mockingbird and make stop at Punta Cormorant where the endemic race of Greater Flamingo (possible split) can be seen. There will be good possibilities for snorkeling at devil´s crown - sharks can sometimes be seen here.
Day 7. In the morning we will visit Española, maybe the most impressive of the islands of Galapagos. Here is the Waved Albatross colony and some of the first birds should already have arrived from the wintering quarters. But just as impressive is large colony of Blue-footed Booby and the Red-billed Tropicbirds flying into their nests. The Hood Mockingbirds are remarkably tame. Large Cactus Finch is easy to see. When arriving to San Cristobal in the afternoon you will taken to up the slope of Cerro San Joaquim and search some scrub for the Chatham Mockingbird, which is only found on San Cristobal.
Day 8. The next morning will be Tower a.k.a. the bird islands. Here are large colonies of Boobies and Frigatebirds, but you will also see Sharp-billed Ground-Finch, Red-footed Booby and Short-eared Owl. Some excellent snorkeling can be done here.
Day 9. We will look out for Galapagos Martin and Galapagos Petrel as we approach Baltra. In mid-morning we will board our plane to the mainland.
