Advice for Colombia - Central Andes and Mitu areas Dec 2022 (1 Viewer)

[ovenbird43]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of finalizing some trip plans for Colombia for my husband and myself for this December, roughly 2.5 weeks. I'm looking at combining a week in Mitu with a week/week and a half in the central Andes, hitting Rio Blanco, Termales del Ruiz, Hacienda del Bosque, and Otun-Quimbaya. I plan to make the majority of arrangements. I realize that the Mitu area requires a guide to access most good trails, and I plan to contact Miguel (mitubirding.com) shortly to check his availability for my tentative dates. I am less decided on how to approach the Central Andes - I am somewhat leaning toward hiring a guide that can provide transport and do Termales and Hacienda as day trips from Manizales, and rely on public transport to reach the other sites. Alternatively, we could rent a car from Manizales and make arrangements to visit those places on our own.

Does anyone have any thoughts or personal experiences with either approach? Or guide/local birder recommendations for the Manizales area? I've rented cars in other places without issue (Panama, Dominican Republic, Mexico, South Africa), but it's always at least slightly stressful and often quite expensive, or at least no less so than hiring a guide for a couple days. An English-speaking guide would not be necessary, my Spanish is very basic but I've been able to get by on previous trips to Spanish-speaking countries.

Also, a bit more of a long shot, but my husband is not really a birder (he'll enjoy the antpittas, cock of the rock, and hummingbirds, but will not be interested in every little antbird or dawn to dusk birding every day) but is generally outdoorsy and particularly interested in bicycling and geology. If anybody has suggestions for additional/alternative activities that I might want to consider in any of these areas, I'd much appreciate it.

Thank you in advance!

 

[MiddleRiver]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of finalizing some trip plans for Colombia for my husband and myself for this December, roughly 2.5 weeks. I'm looking at combining a week in Mitu with a week/week and a half in the central Andes, hitting Rio Blanco, Termales del Ruiz, Hacienda del Bosque, and Otun-Quimbaya. I plan to make the majority of arrangements. I realize that the Mitu area requires a guide to access most good trails, and I plan to contact Miguel (mitubirding.com) shortly to check his availability for my tentative dates. I am less decided on how to approach the Central Andes - I am somewhat leaning toward hiring a guide that can provide transport and do Termales and Hacienda as day trips from Manizales, and rely on public transport to reach the other sites. Alternatively, we could rent a car from Manizales and make arrangements to visit those places on our own.

Does anyone have any thoughts or personal experiences with either approach? Or guide/local birder recommendations for the Manizales area? I've rented cars in other places without issue (Panama, Dominican Republic, Mexico, South Africa), but it's always at least slightly stressful and often quite expensive, or at least no less so than hiring a guide for a couple days. An English-speaking guide would not be necessary, my Spanish is very basic but I've been able to get by on previous trips to Spanish-speaking countries.

Also, a bit more of a long shot, but my husband is not really a birder (he'll enjoy the antpittas, cock of the rock, and hummingbirds, but will not be interested in every little antbird or dawn to dusk birding every day) but is generally outdoorsy and particularly interested in bicycling and geology. If anybody has suggestions for additional/alternative activities that I might want to consider in any of these areas, I'd much appreciate it.

Thank you in advance!

Well, cycling is just about the national sport so you might actually be able to find some good cycling tours/outings or at least rentals!

cycling tours colombia - Recherche Google

 

[temmie]

Check if there are ciclovias (Sunday mornings, motorized traffic is forbidden in many big cities for the main roads / city center). Besides the ciclovias, I would recommend to rent a bike and e.g.
To reach Otun I would recommend the Chiva (= old colorful bus for the backroads. Company name: La Florida, leaves from Manizales somewhere in the afternoon, every day).
I don't have practical info / a recommendation to make with regards to a driver from Manizales, but if you are e.g. first in Rio Blanco, maybe you can ask for a taxi for a day and who they would recommend. If you get nervous about arranging things on the spot, you can either get some info here, read reports on cloudbirders (maybe contact details of a driver is mentioned) or contact a local birding tour company to either recommend drivers or arrange it for you. It shouldn't cost the world to hand out the logistics to someone local, and will probably assure you of better / more birder-experienced drivers etc.

 

[kstrating]

I was in Columbia Jan 1-March 12 2023.
Ivan Lau helped me in Medellin specifically to get on the Yellow-headed manakin and Stile's tapacoulo. +57 323 4008741 Good person, excellent guide. I would have hired him for more time, but our schedules didn't allow. He recommended, as do I, Arley Ruiz for transport in and around Medellin and to Jardin (see below), he was a responsible and careful driver with knowledge of birding stops, but not species. +57 320 7700474
I'm sure you have been forewarned that the roads in Columbia are rough, with lots of construction. Allow yourself lots of extra time (20%+?) to get from A to B.
I also recommend Kristian Daza, an excellent Columbian bird guide. He guides for a range of birding companies (I used Manakin tours) and has a wealth of knowledge about logistics and birds +57 312 8410142. I see he may be in Brazil at the moment though.
I used Guillermo +57 305 3184585 Aramacao tours out of Jardin, an area I recommend for non-birderish folk. Lots of interesting architecture, coffee tasting, good climate, Andean Cock of the Rock lek walking distance from downtown.
Hope this helps!

 

[ovenbird43]

Thank you all for the recommendations so far! I've not been having good luck finding a guide to do day trips from Manizales - I've had two non-responses, and one offer that was well outside my budget at $400 USD per day. I might try a few more contacts, including some of the ones just given by kstrating, but renting a car for two days is starting to sound more appealing.

As my itinerary takes shape, and having made all the arrangements for the trip to Mitu, I also find myself with two days in Bogota at the end of the trip before the flight home. This is really an insurance policy, since I have read that it's not uncommon for flights from Mitu to be delayed by weather and rescheduled for the following day (or more), so I've added this buffer between our flight from Mitu to Bogota and our flights back home. However, assuming this doesn't happen, I'll be looking to make one or two days trips from Bogota to surrounding areas. Chingaza National Park would hold some potential lifers for me and it sounds like some great scenery for Tom. Also thinking Jardin Encantado for Indigo-capped Hummingbird. I'll be less inclined to rent a car in Bogota, so wherever we go, it'll either be public transport or a guide. According to the information in the Birdwatching in Colombia book, both sites can theoretically be reached by public transport, though it's not an ideal way to explore Chingaza.

I appreciate the input so far and happy to hear any additional thoughts or experiences!

 

[kstrating]

Manizales, not Medellin! Oops, my bad. In Manizales I hired a gentleman named Rodrigo Cortez Gil [email protected] who was recommended by Aramacao tours. He drives for lots of different birding companies in the area. He knows the stops, the day trip locations etc. Spanish only, but excellent driver and great person. He and his wife kept me safe and sane for better part of a week.
I birded with Aramacao tours in Manizales for the high country, then on my own at Tinamu Lodge and Rio Blanco where guides are on site.

Do you have your reservation at Rio Blanco yet? I had trouble with the website, and everything being last minute. Also they would not make the reservation unless they had a guide available. In March, there was only one guide available for one day. Once they saw I was not likely to get lost or do something foolish, it became more relaxed and I extended to two more nights, but that initial visit was awkward to arrange. The birding was amazing! Have fun!

If you'd like Rodrigo's phone, PM me.
Katie.

Oh, and BTW, We went to Sumapaz NP and it was amazing, geology, scenery, botany, and birds! Stopped at Reserva Chiguaza near Usme on way. Usme can be reached by bus from Bogota and they can arrange travel on to Park. They have rooms, or you can camp. Also Yellow-rumped (Black-backed) Grosbeak in the yard. The Reserva does lots of work with local kids encouraging birding.

 

[ovenbird43]

Manizales, not Medellin! Oops, my bad. In Manizales I hired a gentleman named Rodrigo Cortez Gil [email protected] who was recommended by Aramacao tours. He drives for lots of different birding companies in the area. He knows the stops, the day trip locations etc. Spanish only, but excellent driver and great person. He and his wife kept me safe and sane for better part of a week.
I birded with Aramacao tours in Manizales for the high country, then on my own at Tinamu Lodge and Rio Blanco where guides are on site.

Do you have your reservation at Rio Blanco yet? I had trouble with the website, and everything being last minute. Also they would not make the reservation unless they had a guide available. In March, there was only one guide available for one day. Once they saw I was not likely to get lost or do something foolish, it became more relaxed and I extended to two more nights, but that initial visit was awkward to arrange. The birding was amazing! Have fun!

If you'd like Rodrigo's phone, PM me.
Katie.

Oh, and BTW, We went to Sumapaz NP and it was amazing, geology, scenery, botany, and birds! Stopped at Reserva Chiguaza near Usme on way. Usme can be reached by bus from Bogota and they can arrange travel on to Park. They have rooms, or you can camp. Also Yellow-rumped (Black-backed) Grosbeak in the yard. The Reserva does lots of work with local kids encouraging birding.

Ah, I've seen Rodrigo's name and phone number crop up in a few trip reports. Thanks for his email address. Do you know if he is on Whatsapp?

I do have reservations for two nights at Rio Blanco, they responded promptly to my email and I didn't have any issues with the links they sent. Not so for Otun-Quimbaya - I tried several different contacts before getting a response saying that they can only take reservations for large groups (perhaps their smaller rooms are full at this time). I found a rental cabin down the road toward La Florida that I'll book instead.

How was birding at Tinamu Lodge? I still have room in my itinerary and am considering adding a day trip or overnight stay there. Looks like a slightly different set of species than some of the other Manizales sites, including Blue-lored Antbird.

Thanks!

 

[kstrating]

Not sure if Rodrigo is on WhatsApp, seems common in Columbia. I mostly phoned or emailed with him, so don't know firsthand.
Glad you had no trouble with Rio Blanco... Sounds like things have recovered somewhat from the covid lag I experienced in March. Many lodges were still struggling to get up and running and many guides struggling with lots of last minute cancellations.

Can't help with Otun-Quimbaya, though Kristian is from Pereira and may know more. He's pretty active on facebook, so a PM may work.

Tinamu Lodge is great for a day trip, or overnight... if pricey, but nice to be onsite. A guide is included and he (name?) knows where these hang out... Blue-Lored Antbird, White-crowned tapaculo, Scaled Antpitta, Parker's Antbird were highlights for me. Also, bird tables galore, and a Golden-collared Manakin lek with good photo opps. The grounds are relatively small, a 50 acre(?) island in coffee country. There are some good birds in the surrounds, we saw Ultramarine Grosbeak along the entry road. Overnight allows time to do both reserve and surround.

Have fun!