Where to go in Ecuador for a week before Galapagos (1 Viewer)

Tony Knight · Nov 2, 2015

We are thinking of spending a week in Ecuador en route to the Galapagos, probably based at 2-3 different sites, each within 2-3 hrs drive of Quito, and I'd probably hire guides at each.

Which 2-3 sites should I pick to give a good range of birds/wildlife/scenery generally ? Presumably at different altitudes (though altitude might be an issue for my wife's asthma ?).

I'm a semi-serious birder but would there be enough other wildlife to keep my non-birding wife entertained, eg monkeys, any cats?, sloths, other mammals/reptiles ? We are just back from Brazil and visited Costa Rica 2 years ago and the variety of habitats/wildlife at both kept us both fascinated.

Thanks
Tony

Maffong · Nov 2, 2015

You could go to Tandayapa Bird Lodge, the hummingbird feeders there are good enough to keep anyone busy! Other good places would be Refugio Paz de las Aves (not really a lodge), Bellavista Cloudforest lodge also has nice animals (for example Tayra and the only recently described Olinguito are regularly seen). You might also want to go birding around Papallacta, whilst your wife enjoys the thermals there or you could visit lodges like San Isisdro lodge, where it is very easy to see the yet undescribed San Isidro Owl and you have good hummingbird feeders
However I doubt that any of the places I've mentioned can guarantee you any mammal sightings, however the birding is great. Just look these places up. For cats and monkeys you'd have to go further down the slopes than just 2-3h and especially the cats are really difficult even there (better go to the Pantanal or elsewhere for them)

I hope that helps a bit

Maffong

njlarsen · Nov 2, 2015

If your flight is from Quito, then the next question becomes east or west. I recently chose west for about 10 total days with lots of good sightings, and stayed at Sachatamia, Bellavista, and Yellow House in Mindo. The last one is close enough to mindo that you can go birding and your wife can do a little town walking. At Bellavista we saw both Olinguito (two different nights) and its bigger cousin.

Where have you birded before? if you have extensive experience with Costa Rica and Panama, then going east probably is better, for lodges such as Guango and San Isodro.

Try to get as many subspecies/island forms of each Galapagos finch as you can, more splits are on the way.

Niels

Tony Knight · Nov 3, 2015

Maffong said:
You could go to Tandayapa Bird Lodge, the hummingbird feeders there are good enough to keep anyone busy! Other good places would be Refugio Paz de las Aves (not really a lodge), Bellavista Cloudforest lodge also has nice animals (for example Tayra and the only recently described Olinguito are regularly seen). You might also want to go birding around Papallacta, whilst your wife enjoys the thermals there or you could visit lodges like San Isisdro lodge, where it is very easy to see the yet undescribed San Isidro Owl and you have good hummingbird feeders
However I doubt that any of the places I've mentioned can guarantee you any mammal sightings, however the birding is great. Just look these places up. For cats and monkeys you'd have to go further down the slopes than just 2-3h and especially the cats are really difficult even there (better go to the Pantanal or elsewhere for them)

I hope that helps a bit

Maffong

Thanks Maffong. Co-incidentally we were in the Pantanal 2 weeks ago and yes it was great for cats as evidenced by these jaguar and ocelot shots !!

Tony Knight · Nov 3, 2015

njlarsen said:
If your flight is from Quito, then the next question becomes east or west. I recently chose west for about 10 total days with lots of good sightings, and stayed at Sachatamia, Bellavista, and Yellow House in Mindo. The last one is close enough to mindo that you can go birding and your wife can do a little town walking. At Bellavista we saw both Olinguito (two different nights) and its bigger cousin.

Where have you birded before? if you have extensive experience with Costa Rica and Panama, then going east probably is better, for lodges such as Guango and San Isodro.

Try to get as many subspecies/island forms of each Galapagos finch as you can, more splits are on the way.

Niels

Thanks Niels. Photo folders on the flickr link on my footer show where we have been but in C & S America just the one holiday to Costa Rica and Brazil. Not been to Panama. Just want somewhere good for birds and mammals for a week on the way to or from Galapagos. If there was somewhere within an easy commute of Quito that would be perfect as it would keep flights to a minimum (my wife hates flying !). However if there isn't, then a week en route elsewhere, eg Columbia would be doable.

Thanks
Tony

Chris D · Nov 3, 2015

I was in Ecuador last December. Sachatamia and Bellavista were fun. I was into hummers. Guango too.

njlarsen · Nov 4, 2015

Tony Knight said:
Thanks Nils. Photo folders on the flickr link on my footer show where we have been but in C & S America just the one holiday to Costa Rica and Brazil. Not been to Panama. Just want somewhere good for birds and mammals for a week on the way to or from Galapagos. If there was somewhere within an easy commute of Quito that would be perfect as it would keep flights to a minimum (my wife hates flying !). However if there isn't, then a week en route elsewhere, eg Columbia would be doable.

Thanks
Tony

Each of the places I mentioned are within max of 2 hours drive. It is my impression that for the weekend, Bellavista does make an effort to show you their two special mammals. Hummer feeders at all three places I talk about in the westerly direction.

We saw Tayra twice in Ecuador, but our guide for Galapagos said he just about never seen them there, so I did not want to mention those too strongly. we saw tracks from the local bear, but my impression is that it is extremely difficult to see the animal itself.

Niels

Maffong · Nov 4, 2015

Supposedly there's about a 40% chance of seeing it at Yellow House trails. The bear I mean. When I was there I heard a large animal run away through the undergrowth and am almost 100% it was the bear, but I had no luck. Still abeautiful place to stay

Maffong

temmie · Nov 4, 2015

I guess the Papallacta area is still best for a chance on Andean Bear.

If your wife hates flying, stay on the mainland. I always wonder why so many people I met in Napo river lodges say it's wonderful, and reluctantly tell me they have to go to catch their flight to the Galapagos.

They are missing out on diversity and spend an awful lot of money to see barren islands with few birds and some odd fauna (I know I am overreacting, but just to give you another view on the matter!).

I agree that Ecuador is nog a good mammal destination, unless you are very persistent and have a good stroke of luck.

Tony Knight · Nov 4, 2015

njlarsen said:
Each of the places I mentioned are within max of 2 hours drive. It is my impression that for the weekend, Bellavista does make an effort to show you their two special mammals. Hummer feeders at all three places I talk about in the westerly direction.

We saw Tayra twice in Ecuador, but our guide for Galapagos said he just about never seen them there, so I did not want to mention those too strongly. we saw tracks from the local bear, but my impression is that it is extremely difficult to see the animal itself.

Niels

Thanks Niels. We were lucky enough to see Tayra briefly at Arenal in Costa Rica => https://www.flickr.com/photos/54189378@N02/13005733053/in/photolist-kPg5XB-kPg5VT-kPgMjM

Doesn't need to be particularly special/rare mammals. If there are a few monkey species and maybe some sloths around that would be fine.

Tony Knight · Nov 4, 2015

temmie said:
I guess the Papallacta area is still best for a chance on Andean Bear.

If your wife hates flying, stay on the mainland. I always wonder why so many people I met in Napo river lodges say it's wonderful, and reluctantly tell me they have to go to catch their flight to the Galapagos.

They are missing out on diversity and spend an awful lot of money to see barren islands with few birds and some odd fauna (I know I am overreacting, but just to give you another view on the matter!).

I agree that Ecuador is nog a good mammal destination, unless you are very persistent and have a good stroke of luck.

If it was entirely down to me....
She desperately want to go to the G islands to see the unique and tame wildlife and I would be interested too. Whatever we do for the other week can be partly geared to birding but can't be too focused on looking for little brown birds deep in the undergrowth ! Hummingbird feeders would be well received but would need the chance to see other forms of wildlife and some nice scenery.

Welsh Peregrine · Nov 4, 2015

Spent a week at Tandayapa - only mammal was a squirrel seen once.

Maffong · Nov 4, 2015

Monkeys on the western slope are difficult, I have never seen one there (didn't go to the best places though), but can be found in the eastern lowlands. But that's definitely more than 2-3 hours from Quito. SOme rather tame ones can be found e.g. around Tena.
Red-tailed Squirrels are common in the cloudforests like around Tandayapa, Mindo, etc. however as stated I think only Bellavista has really good chances for other mammals.
The best place for Spectacled Bear I would say is the Reserva Cayambe-Coca, but I think you still need time and luck to find them and apart from the scenery and maybe Andean Condors there won't be much for your wife. Also you might have problems with the altitude there?!
Also seeing sloths in Ecuador isn't as easy as in Central America. I was told in Costa Rica, they can be found about everywhere, in Ecuador I've only ever seen one high up in a tree.

However I can really recommend the Galapagos islands! the wildlife is super tame, the beaches are beautiful and it's just cool to swim with sea lions, penguins and turtles. However try to get to the islands in the southeast (San Cristobal and Espanola) as this is were the big sea bird colonies are found, through which you can walk

Maffong

CJW · Nov 4, 2015

Guango.

njlarsen · Nov 4, 2015

I had a little bit of a mixed feeling about Galapagos a few years ago: I wanted to go, but would there be enough birdlife to keep the interest going, with only around 15 Galapagos finches and some other odd things? Having tried it this year, the answer was a resounding yes. I made an emphasis of going on a specialty bird trip that got all currently recognized species except Mangrove finch (you are prohibited from even stopping a boat anywhere close to where they still hold on). Things like Blue Whale was a bonus

Niels

njlarsen · Nov 4, 2015

The bear tracks we saw was on the land of Angel Paz.

Niels

Foxy · Nov 4, 2015

Galapagos was amazing as a unique experience in itself with so much of the wildlife so close, and the chance to swim with wild sharks (White-tipped Reef and Galapagos, we missed Hammerhead) without a cage was a 'lifetime' event, in addition to the sea lions, Rays, Turtles and lizards. We didn't do a speciality trip and had to find most birds ourselves so we missed a lot but was worth every penny. Do it as and Island Hop rather than a cruise and you'll probably see more and be putting more back into the local economy. And we had a week in Ecuador on what we saved on overall cost

Foxy · Nov 4, 2015

I was with my wife and we wanted to mix birding and holidaying so we travelled from Quito down the spine of the Andes with our own dedicated driver on a tour we had planned in advance and then jumped off to Galapagos from Guayquil. It was superb, and cost a lot less than we had expected. We didn't do the rain forests but will go again for them. Keep in mind that you may need inoculations if you go on the lower slopes to the rain forests whereas on the higher Andes we didn't.

Tony Knight · Nov 5, 2015

Foxy said:
I was with my wife and we wanted to mix birding and holidaying so we travelled from Quito down the spine of the Andes with our own dedicated driver on a tour we had planned in advance and then jumped off to Galapagos from Guayquil. It was superb, and cost a lot less than we had expected. We didn't do the rain forests but will go again for them. Keep in mind that you may need inoculations if you go on the lower slopes to the rain forests whereas on the higher Andes we didn't.

Thanks Foxy. Would you be happy to share that itinerary as flying into Quito, spending a week driving to Guayquil, flying onto the Galapagos (looks like all Quito flights stop there anyway) and then flying home might be an option. We usually fix on an itinerary and then get someone like Audley to put it together as a bespoke tour and arrange hotels, flights, transport between sites and guides at each location.

Peter C. · Nov 5, 2015

I was very keen on Termas de Papallacta Lodge, which I visited in 2007. It's just over the pass (eastern slope) from Quito, and now that the airport has (finally) moved, it is even more convenient. Tons of birds there, and what's more, it is not at a terribly high altitude, so shouldn't give you any trouble in that department. At the same time it is a short drive to a portion of the Cayambe Coca reserve that is above treeline; based at Papallacta, you can take a short trip up there to for the really special mountain birds, like Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe (practically guaranteed near the radio towers at the pass).

Where to go in Ecuador for a week before Galapagos (1 Viewer)

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