Looking for help on our itinerary for a first visit yo Colombia (3 Viewers)

[AliBellMeribel]

Hi,

We (a couple) are planning a 2 week mostly birding trip to Colombia in January 2025. We are planning to spend the second week in the Santa Marta area with a few days at the end chilling on a beach near Tayrona.
We are looking for advice on which area we should spend the first week please. Preferably one general area that we will fly to then travel between 2 or 3 different locations in that area. As it is our first trip to Colombia we are not wanting to check off lots of endemics, we want to see as many of the beautiful and interesting birds of Colombia as possible.
We like to do a full morning's birding then do our own thing (birding, photography, other visits) in the afternoon.
Our ideal is to stay in a great bird/eco lodge with its own English-speaking bird guide who we can book.
Cali and the Cauca valley look amazing but are they very wet in January? Does it rain every day?
Maybe we would be better birding round Medellin or Montezuma.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[AveryBartels]

Hi,

We (a couple) are planning a 2 week mostly birding trip to Colombia in January 2025. We are planning to spend the second week in the Santa Marta area with a few days at the end chilling on a beach near Tayrona.
We are looking for advice on which area we should spend the first week please. Preferably one general area that we will fly to then travel between 2 or 3 different locations in that area. As it is our first trip to Colombia we are not wanting to check off lots of endemics, we want to see as many of the beautiful and interesting birds of Colombia as possible.
We like to do a full morning's birding then do our own thing (birding, photography, other visits) in the afternoon.
Our ideal is to stay in a great bird/eco lodge with its own English-speaking bird guide who we can book.
Cali and the Cauca valley look amazing but are they very wet in January? Does it rain every day?
Maybe we would be better birding round Medellin or Montezuma.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

It will be dry season in all of the Cali/Cauca Valley/Medellin in January so that won't really be a factor in deciding between these areas. Really it is up to whatever you decide is more to your liking but any combination of Cali area, Montezuma, Manizales area and Otun Quimbaya will likely suit you. Bear in mind though that most of those sites (except maybe Montezuma) don't have English speaking guides onsite to my knowledge, so you might need to hire a guide for the week.

 

[simmojunior]

As you only have a week, I'd recommend spending 3 or 4 nights at Montezuma and 3 or 4 nights round Manizales. Alternatively you could do Cali area, there is enough in that area for a week. Maybe 3 nights km 18, 3 nights San Cipriano or you could stay at Araucana Lodge if you prefer something more fancy.

 

[njlarsen]

Personally, I spent about two weeks in the north and did not regret. A little more than a week in and above Minca (El Dorado lodge for 4 nights) and a few nights east in the Camarones area, plus a few nights in the Tayrones park. Notice that entrance in the morning can take a lot of time but that lodging and food might be cheaper outside the park. Doing a different section of Colombia on the same trip risks you spending too much time traveling and not enough enjoying.
Niels

 

[AliBellMeribel]

It will be dry season in all of the Cali/Cauca Valley/Medellin in January so that won't really be a factor in deciding between these areas. Really it is up to whatever you decide is more to your liking but any combination of Cali area, Montezuma, Manizales area and Otun Quimbaya will likely suit you. Bear in mind though that most of those sites (except maybe Montezuma) don't have English speaking guides onsite to my knowledge, so you might need to hire a guide for the week.

AveryBartels thanks for the info. Do you happen to know if we would be able to book accommodation + transport from airport and to onward destination + an english-speaking guide at Montezuma lodge for ourselves for, say, a 4 night/3 day trip to explore the area? Alternatively, do you have a driver/guide you can recommend in either this area or Cali please? Thanks in advance for any further advice. Am a bit concerned that taking a guide for the whole week will work out a bit expensive and not the best value for us as we were hoping just to bird in the mornings with a guide.

 

[AveryBartels]

AveryBartels thanks for the info. Do you happen to know if we would be able to book accommodation + transport from airport and to onward destination + an english-speaking guide at Montezuma lodge for ourselves for, say, a 4 night/3 day trip to explore the area? Alternatively, do you have a driver/guide you can recommend in either this area or Cali please? Thanks in advance for any further advice. Am a bit concerned that taking a guide for the whole week will work out a bit expensive and not the best value for us as we were hoping just to bird in the mornings with a guide.

You'll have to contact Montezuma to see if they can arrange all that, but I suspect they can. The only part I'm not certain of is whether they'll have an English speaking guide (I suspect so). Best to look into it asap though, as Montezuma don't have that many rooms and they can book up fairly quickly. An alternative if Montezuma doesn't work out is Arnulfo Sanchez who has place called "Birds Home Mistrato" that has many of the same middle elevation Choco birds as Montezuma, though without certain specialties. This is in the community of Mistrato, Risaralda Arnulfo Sanchez Salazar-Birding

For Cali area you could try Gilberto Bolaños, he's a local guide there Gilberto Collazos Bolaños . Jose Luna Solarte is another option Jose Luna Solarte .

Any of the above guides should be able to arrange transportation for you.