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Where to go in South America or even Central America (1 Viewer)

njlarsen

njlarsen

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I have seen similar threads before, but I have a couple of conditions which are different, primarily in that I don’t want to do backpacking travel: we did that twenty years ago, but not now. The type of trip that I most often enjoy is to rent a car, drive around, take in some good birding sites, a couple of cultural sites and some good food, etc. Alternatively, I have once tried staying at the Asa Wright lodge in Trinidad, and for the forest species there it was great, but I enjoyed the following days with the car ;) Going as part of a larger group is really far down my wish list.

Therefore, my first preference would be places where we could do either one, the other or both types of vacation. I have been driving in Mexico including Chiapas, (as well as Egypt) and I live in a place that most people call third world, but I would still like to go to a place with a decent chance of not getting robbed whichever way we go. The time commitment would probably be three weeks some time in 2008.

Now the question becomes: where, and secondarily, at what time of the year would it be best? I have been to Mexico, and I have been to Trinidad, so it would have to be a place south of either one. My economy is currently decent, but I am not a millionaire. For travel, I would probably have to go through Miami (or Trinidad if going to Venezuela), which would add some time and expense to the trip. We would be two people, I and my wife who likes spectacular birds and hummers, but also would like to have the cultural parts inserted ;)

Thanks for any and all thoughts.
Niels
 
If you are near the Veracruz region (lower eastern Mexico), I just recent heard from the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory that this region has the largest raptor migration in the world. To put it in perspective, our raptor count for the entire season is equivalent to one of their observation days. 18 different species migrating through the region, and thousands of raptors visible on a given day. I saw the slide photo taken during a migration and it was awesome.
 
Thank you, Panama looks exiting!

I will still welcome other answers/opinions

thanks
Niels
 
Two trips in recent years that were particularly good for me were Ecuador and Peru. They both have huge list of really great birds, mainly because of the variety of habitats available. On both trips, I felt like I had several holidays in one, after spending some time walking in the high Andes, then visiting dense tropical jungle and then coastal areas or desert. The big draw of Ecuador is of course the Galapagos Islands. It is much cheaper to book your trip after you arrive in Ecuador, which makes it much easier on the budget. The big draw of Peru is that you have the fantastic Inca ruins to visit. Both countries seem to be relatively safe for anyone with their wits about them and both are relatively cheap once you get there. I can't imagine anyone being disappointed with a trip to either place.

Tom
 
Costa Rica is an excellent place to rent a car and bird around, simply amazing. Safe, not too expensive, easy to get to the best spots and full of wonderful birds. You´ll love it. :eat:
 
Tom,
thank you for your answer: Peru and Ecuador both have been on my mind, but I mainly have seen reports describing backpacking/public transportation or tours. How did you arrange your trips there?

thanks
Niels
 
Motmot said:
Costa Rica is an excellent place to rent a car and bird around, simply amazing. Safe, not too expensive, easy to get to the best spots and full of wonderful birds. You´ll love it. :eat:
Click to expand...

That sounds like a strong recommandation as well! I will look into that some more.

thanks
Niels
 
Hi Niels,
We took a birding/photography trip with a Houston based nature photographer, to Costa Rica in February. Didn't do any driving ourselves, but feel that it would be a great place to go back to in the future and rent a car to drive ourselves around. Would probably pre-book into several Eco-lodges, now that we have some experience of the country. We felt very safe there, the food was good and you can drink the water!

If you're not going till 2008, I'll let you know when I get my trip report done. Got about 120 lifers and the group as a whole saw over 200 species.
 
Thanks Helen,
our travel for 2007 is all planned, and mostly involves family occations, so I have to start dreaming of 2008 ;) I will be looking for ward to your trip report

Niels
 
I would also vote for Costa Rica for what you have in mind.

Easy to get around, fair road system
Friendly people, many speak English as well as Spanish
Lots of birdy spots to go (Monteverde, Santa Rita, Carara etc.)
Safe with common sense, there is an increasing amount of petty theft especially theft from unoccupied vehicles so be warned
A ton of information available in books and online.
 
Some friends and I rented a car in Costa Rica (at the Alejuela airport) and drove, mostly on the west side of the country. This was a few years ago, but it was fun and easy. We didn't prebook hotels, which was only an issue in Monte Verde because we were there at peak season. I agree, it is nice to be able to stop anytime and anywhere. Sounds like you have lots of experience driving under creative traffic laws, so you should have no problem.

I would also recommend Belize and Tikal (fly from BZE to Florez), though it may not be south enough for you. Belize is very easy to drive around and driving is one of the best ways to reach Blue Hole (inland) national park and Carocol ruins.
 
You have to love Costa Rica. It is surely the world's easiest country to travel around. The people are lovely, and their spanish is really easy to understand for some reason, presumably as they have plenty of experience talking to Americans (huge American population there, inc loads of hippies).

I found it funny how many people there are convinced their country is going to wreck and ruin - when I was there a couple of gangsters had shot each other in one of the dodgier suburbs of the capital. This one-off isolated event was major discussion in the countryside. The fact this happens every day in many cities elsewhere in the world seems to escape them. Bless.

I also had one young bloke who was giving me a lift, worringly ask why Britain had been in so many wars, and explaining to me that war is bad and we should stop it.

Hippies, the lot of 'em

John
 
Ecuador, Costa Rica, etc.

From your post I gather that you and your wife are similar to my husband and I when it comes to birding travel. We have self-birded and driven ourselves all around the world and Latin America is a favorite destination. We've been to Costa Rica which is, in fact, a great beginning destination and quite easy to get around in. We did over 3000 km in our rental car but the roads were sometimes poorly maintained. Of course that was quite a while ago and their infrastructure might have been improved since then. On the other hand, for all its touting as an "ecological paradise", remaining natural habitat in Costa Rica is really quite small. On the other hand, we have been to Ecuador three times and loved every minute of it. On our second trip we flew into to Guayaquil and drove for five weeks around the southern part of Ecuador. It was fabulous!!! We love the people and the habitat is fantastic. In a few weeks we are heading for Peru. Evidently it is more difficult to drive yourself in Peru and instead we will have a car and driver. If you want the details, email me. I'll post a trip report in late August. The costs are not exhorbitant but definitely more than in Ecuador where we could drive ourselves.

Happy planning!
 
Hi Niels! Let me second the other posts here: Costa Rica is a great country to kick off birding in Latin America, as is Trinidad where you've been and Panama. After that you might do Ecuador and Peru as some of the birds are the same. You can travel the first two fairly easily by yourselves and the other two are doable depending how well you speak Spanish and how much you read up. In Peru and Ecaudor it used to be fairly easy to pick up a tour with a local company or hire a guide or driver. I hear Belize and Mexico are easy to do independently but have not been there yet. Costa Rica's a great place to travel in and get to know the birds and the people really know how to take care fo you, but you'll maybe feel you wanted to see some real rainforest wilderness after all. In that case, Amazon countries like Ecuador and Peru are great, as are Brazil and Venezuela and I'm sure Columbia is too. For me the two countries that really deserve to be better known for fantastic birding are Panama and Venezuela. You can see a whole years worth of birds in any of these. Costa Rica is not quite crime free as there have been quite a few robberies and muggings of birders the last few years. Have a great trip. Regards, DT
 
How about Argentina ? Fantastic scenery, huge variety of birds and habitats, and surely less hectic than pretty much any other neotropical country if you want a peaceful time. Far enough away from being a "third world" country that I even had a meal paid for me behind my back by locals who felt sorry for this particular knackered backpacker. And of course a must if you want to clean up on the world's Dipper spp !
 
Thank you everybody, and sorry that I am very late in chiming in: just been off for 3 weeks to Europe on a mainly non-birding trip ;)

I am enjoying every entry in this thread, and they will be read again all of them before I decide where the big birding trip next year will go!

thanks
Niels
 
Ecuador is fantastic. Beautiful country, great people and - most of all - stunning birds, with a lot of endemic species. You cannot go far wrong by choosing Ecuador.
 
About Birding in Panama

Panama has 972 species of birds, twelve of them are National endemics and 105 Regional endemics.

Most of the birding spots in the Canal Area are less than one hour from Panama City (Pipeline Road, Old Gamboa Road, Metropolitan Park).

The Panama Canal Watershed has about 650 species, two thirds of the Panama avifauna (Engelman et al. 1995).

Panama is the southern most country in Central America, making possible to add species from South American origins.

There are sixteen species of birds in Panama, classified as Globally Threatened (BirdLife International) some of them are: Bare-necked Umbrellabird, Resplendent Quetzal, Three-wattled Bellbird and Yellow-billed Cotinga.

More than three million birds of prey where counted during the transcontinental count of raptors held in Panama, Autumn 2004 (Hawk Mountain Sanctuary). The major event was named "Great Ocean to Ocean Raptor Migration Count".

Panama has sixteen National Parks that in total protect 29% of the national territory. About 40 % of Panamá is still cover with Tropical Rainforest.

Jose Carlos Garcia
Local Birding Guide
http://www.birdingpanama.com
 

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