Manizales area and.... Montezuma? (3 Viewers)

[bazzzley]

Hello all,

I've been fortunate enough to have a last minute opportunity to head to Colombia for birding for the first time at the end of March! I've found a heap of great info on this site already (Antpitta'd's thread and Ross Gallardy's thorough report to name a couple). I've been particularly excited about the opportunities I've read about for birding in the Manizales area. I am looking for input on the rough itinerary for my trip - how many nights in each location do people recommend, hotspots I've overlooked, a more efficient route, etc. I'm planning about a 6 night trip (not nearly long enough) but could be convinced to add another night or so on to snag more lifers So far the hypothetical itinerary is:

Day 1: Arrive Bogota on red-eye, early flight to Pereira and bus to Manizales staying at Rio Blanco (2 nights?)
Day 2: Birding at Rio Blanco
Day 3: AM birding at Rio Blanco then head to Hotel Termales Ruiz (1 night)
Day 4: Up to Los Nevados with stops for Rufous-fronted parakeet. Night at Hacienda El Bosque (2 nights?)
Day 5 : Birding at Hacienda El Bosque
Day 6: Transport to Manizales then bus to Jardin for cock-of-the-rock lek (1 night?)
Day 7: bus to Medellin and onwards to Bogota and head home.

We're looking to maximize our time birding and minimize our time travelling, we'd love whenever possible to wake up at a lodge and roll out of bed onto the trails first thing. I'm most excited about the antpitta feeders, variety of hummingbirds and the possibility of seeing a mountain toucan! The detour up to Jardin at the end seems like a lot of travel time and effort but oh how I want to see a cock-of-the-rock...

On a slightly different thread - I was SO excited to read trip reports and see the species list at in Montezuma but, unsurprisingly, Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge is booked solid until April and I just cant make those dates work. I want to know if anyone on here has stayed in Pueblo Rico and independently hired a guide and 4x4 transport to bird along Camino Montezuma? Surely there are other guides organizing tours up the mountain? Any leads on this would be appreciated.

Many thanks and happy birding - Lauren

 

[MiddleRiver]

I sincerely hope politics doesn’t derail your plans! Some crazy stuff earlier this week!

 

[simmojunior]

Hello all,

I've been fortunate enough to have a last minute opportunity to head to Colombia for birding for the first time at the end of March! I've found a heap of great info on this site already (Antpitta'd's thread and Ross Gallardy's thorough report to name a couple). I've been particularly excited about the opportunities I've read about for birding in the Manizales area. I am looking for input on the rough itinerary for my trip - how many nights in each location do people recommend, hotspots I've overlooked, a more efficient route, etc. I'm planning about a 6 night trip (not nearly long enough) but could be convinced to add another night or so on to snag more lifers So far the hypothetical itinerary is:

Day 1: Arrive Bogota on red-eye, early flight to Pereira and bus to Manizales staying at Rio Blanco (2 nights?)
Day 2: Birding at Rio Blanco
Day 3: AM birding at Rio Blanco then head to Hotel Termales Ruiz (1 night)
Day 4: Up to Los Nevados with stops for Rufous-fronted parakeet. Night at Hacienda El Bosque (2 nights?)
Day 5 : Birding at Hacienda El Bosque
Day 6: Transport to Manizales then bus to Jardin for cock-of-the-rock lek (1 night?)
Day 7: bus to Medellin and onwards to Bogota and head home.

We're looking to maximize our time birding and minimize our time travelling, we'd love whenever possible to wake up at a lodge and roll out of bed onto the trails first thing. I'm most excited about the antpitta feeders, variety of hummingbirds and the possibility of seeing a mountain toucan! The detour up to Jardin at the end seems like a lot of travel time and effort but oh how I want to see a cock-of-the-rock...

On a slightly different thread - I was SO excited to read trip reports and see the species list at in Montezuma but, unsurprisingly, Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge is booked solid until April and I just cant make those dates work. I want to know if anyone on here has stayed in Pueblo Rico and independently hired a guide and 4x4 transport to bird along Camino Montezuma? Surely there are other guides organizing tours up the mountain? Any leads on this would be appreciated.

Many thanks and happy birding - Lauren

Hi Lauren,

You don't need two nights at El Bosque if you are staying one night at Nevados. You can birdwatch El Bosque in a couple of hours in a morning as there is not much there beyond the feeders. You can though arrange a car / driver for Nevados through El Bosque. I'd suggest adding one night at Otun Quimbaya at start instead.

I've never been to Jardin but it is a long way from Manizales/ Medellin (6 hours?) so unlikely to be worth going for just one night.

Montezuma is fantastic but if lodge is booked, not sure there are other options. Las Tangaras has a similar range of species so may work as an alternative.

Another suggestion if cock of the rock is a priority would be to scrap Jardin and instead head from Pereira to Cali. There is a cock of the rock lek at Dona Dora and this would give you opportunity to visit magical San Cipriano.

 

[Antpitta'd]

Hello all,

I've been fortunate enough to have a last minute opportunity to head to Colombia for birding for the first time at the end of March! I've found a heap of great info on this site already (Antpitta'd's thread and Ross Gallardy's thorough report to name a couple). I've been particularly excited about the opportunities I've read about for birding in the Manizales area. I am looking for input on the rough itinerary for my trip - how many nights in each location do people recommend, hotspots I've overlooked, a more efficient route, etc. I'm planning about a 6 night trip (not nearly long enough) but could be convinced to add another night or so on to snag more lifers So far the hypothetical itinerary is:

Day 1: Arrive Bogota on red-eye, early flight to Pereira and bus to Manizales staying at Rio Blanco (2 nights?)
Day 2: Birding at Rio Blanco
Day 3: AM birding at Rio Blanco then head to Hotel Termales Ruiz (1 night)
Day 4: Up to Los Nevados with stops for Rufous-fronted parakeet. Night at Hacienda El Bosque (2 nights?)
Day 5 : Birding at Hacienda El Bosque
Day 6: Transport to Manizales then bus to Jardin for cock-of-the-rock lek (1 night?)
Day 7: bus to Medellin and onwards to Bogota and head home.

We're looking to maximize our time birding and minimize our time travelling, we'd love whenever possible to wake up at a lodge and roll out of bed onto the trails first thing. I'm most excited about the antpitta feeders, variety of hummingbirds and the possibility of seeing a mountain toucan! The detour up to Jardin at the end seems like a lot of travel time and effort but oh how I want to see a cock-of-the-rock...

On a slightly different thread - I was SO excited to read trip reports and see the species list at in Montezuma but, unsurprisingly, Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge is booked solid until April and I just cant make those dates work. I want to know if anyone on here has stayed in Pueblo Rico and independently hired a guide and 4x4 transport to bird along Camino Montezuma? Surely there are other guides organizing tours up the mountain? Any leads on this would be appreciated.

Many thanks and happy birding - Lauren

Hi, I’ve since done most of these since my thread! I would skip Jardín as it’s a very long journey from the rest of the trip. Las Tangaras has a very similar species list to Montezuma and you can visit nearby Gorrión for black billed mountain toucan and the chestnut bellied flowerpiercer. It’s that easily combined with the other bits though. The setup here is perfect for independent birding, would recommend getting a moto up the road in the early morning and birding back down. I did Montezuma and Las Tangaras and I don’t think you’d miss much by just doing the latter (cheaper too). The gold ringed tanager is harder here but we still got it relatively easily.

If you were keen on Las Tangaras it might be better to pivot to more stuff around Medellin. Plenty there also.

If you’re sticking around Manizales / Pereira then Nevado del Ruiz is worth a stop for the helmetcrest (very easy near visitors centre, no need to enter the park). Termales del Ruiz has good birding down the road, we got purple backed and rainbow bearded thornbill and a bunch of other stuff.

Agree with @simmojunior that hacienda el bosque doesn’t warrant more than 1 night, but it’s a lovely place.

Otun Quimbaya for multicoloured tanager and hooded antpitta (amongst others) is worth a visit also as mentioned.

I may be in a minority here but I was very underwhelmed by Rio Blanco, they won’t let you do much without a guide and most of our guided day was just waiting at feeders. Masked Saltator is probably the biggest reason (and antpittas) but I didn’t love it. Also generally found them quite unfriendly but that’s less important.

I’ve done quite a lot of birding in Colombia since my thread so do shout if you have any more questions.

 

[mjh73]

I may be in a minority here but I was very underwhelmed by Rio Blanco, they won’t let you do much without a guide and most of our guided day was just waiting at feeders. Masked Saltator is probably the biggest reason (and antpittas) but I didn’t love it. Also generally found them quite unfriendly but that’s less important.

Similar impression of Rio Blanco here (except found them very friendly). Underwhelmed by birding which was largely having pet antpittas loudly called in (not always successfully).
Accommodation was very comfortable though, one of the nicer lodges Ive stayed at in CO.
I think maybe it is overhyped slightly 🤔
Certainly other places discussed here- Otun, Montezuma, San Cipriano, Dona Dora- stand out more in my memories.

 

[Antpitta'd]

Similar impression of Rio Blanco here (except found them very friendly). Underwhelmed by birding which was largely having pet antpittas loudly called in (not always successfully).
Accommodation was very comfortable though, one of the nicer lodges Ive stayed at in CO.
I think maybe it is overhyped slightly 🤔
Certainly other places discussed here- Otun, Montezuma, San Cipriano, Dona Dora- stand out more in my memories.

Yeah we were travelling very cheap at the time and just making instant noodles + sandwiches for food so didn’t have any meals there, which I think may have caused slight offence.

 

[mjh73]

Yeah we were travelling very cheap at the time and just making instant noodles + sandwiches for food so didn’t have any meals there, which I think may have caused slight offence.

You didn't miss much making your own food 🤣

 

[AveryBartels]

With your time available I will echo others in saying it is not worth trying to fit in Jardin. Two nights in Rio Blanco is better than one as the general birding, away from the feeding stations can be very good, I've had lots of good flocks there over several visits. So having time to fit in both feeding stations and general birding is good. Also, if you've had enough of a given feeding station just move on.

For the higher elevation stuff, you are going to need your own transport to do Termales and Nevado del Ruiz. I would suggest considering just staying two nights at Hacienda El Bosque and doing a full day of Nevados/Termales arranging transport with the folks at El Bosque. You can then do the feeders at El Bosque the second morning.

After that, I see two logical options. The first is to do Otun Quimbaya, as mentioned by someone else. There is no loger accom at Flinca La Suiza is my understanding but some lodging further down the entrance road. They can probably hook you up with a taxi to take you to El Cedral (end of the road) where you can bird your way back.

The other option, if you want something similar to Montezuma, is to go to Bird's Home Mistrato - Google Maps . The local guide, Arnulfo, is good and there is a similar suite of birds to Montezuma though not the higher elevation stuff like the Flowerpiercer. Worth a couple nights there.

There are lots of good places for Cock-of-the-Rock, in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru etc. so if you miss it on this trip (they are at Otun, and around Mistrato as well) you'll have future opportunities!

 

[simmojunior]

With your time available I will echo others in saying it is not worth trying to fit in Jardin. Two nights in Rio Blanco is better than one as the general birding, away from the feeding stations can be very good, I've had lots of good flocks there over several visits. So having time to fit in both feeding stations and general birding is good. Also, if you've had enough of a given feeding station just move on.

For the higher elevation stuff, you are going to need your own transport to do Termales and Nevado del Ruiz. I would suggest considering just staying two nights at Hacienda El Bosque and doing a full day of Nevados/Termales arranging transport with the folks at El Bosque. You can then do the feeders at El Bosque the second morning.

After that, I see two logical options. The first is to do Otun Quimbaya, as mentioned by someone else. There is no loger accom at Flinca La Suiza is my understanding but some lodging further down the entrance road. They can probably hook you up with a taxi to take you to El Cedral (end of the road) where you can bird your way back.

The other option, if you want something similar to Montezuma, is to go to Bird's Home Mistrato - Google Maps . The local guide, Arnulfo, is good and there is a similar suite of birds to Montezuma though not the higher elevation stuff like the Flowerpiercer. Worth a couple nights there.

There are lots of good places for Cock-of-the-Rock, in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru etc. so if you miss it on this trip (they are at Otun, and around Mistrato as well) you'll have future opportunities!

You can stay at Casa de Kumanday in La Florida for Otun. It is pretty good and they can arrange transport to go for Hooded Antpitta (we dipped!).

 

[bazzzley]

Hi Lauren,

You don't need two nights at El Bosque if you are staying one night at Nevados. You can birdwatch El Bosque in a couple of hours in a morning as there is not much there beyond the feeders. You can though arrange a car / driver for Nevados through El Bosque. I'd suggest adding one night at Otun Quimbaya at start instead.

I've never been to Jardin but it is a long way from Manizales/ Medellin (6 hours?) so unlikely to be worth going for just one night.

Montezuma is fantastic but if lodge is booked, not sure there are other options. Las Tangaras has a similar range of species so may work as an alternative.

Another suggestion if cock of the rock is a priority would be to scrap Jardin and instead head from Pereira to Cali. There is a cock of the rock lek at Dona Dora and this would give you opportunity to visit magical San Cipriano.

Many thanks for the tips and info! I saw in a couple threads you mentioned a guide, Daniel, whom you used at Rio Blanco and recommended. Do you have contact info for him? Was he provided by Rio Blanco or you hired him independently?

Do you have a ballpark range of what the cost of a car & driver for a full day would be in the Manizales area? I haven't come across that info anywhere. Would like to compare that to the cost of hiring our own rental car.

In a change of fortune Montezuma lodge now has availability end of March I'll be spending 3 nights there at the end of the trip! Somehow got very lucky with that. As a result I've scrapped the Jardin plan and added a couple days to the length of the trip to make the most of birding in Montezuma.

I will have to go back to visit the San Cipriano area and visit Doña Dora's!

 

[bazzzley]

Hi, I’ve since done most of these since my thread! I would skip Jardín as it’s a very long journey from the rest of the trip. Las Tangaras has a very similar species list to Montezuma and you can visit nearby Gorrión for black billed mountain toucan and the chestnut bellied flowerpiercer. It’s that easily combined with the other bits though. The setup here is perfect for independent birding, would recommend getting a moto up the road in the early morning and birding back down. I did Montezuma and Las Tangaras and I don’t think you’d miss much by just doing the latter (cheaper too). The gold ringed tanager is harder here but we still got it relatively easily.

If you were keen on Las Tangaras it might be better to pivot to more stuff around Medellin. Plenty there also.

If you’re sticking around Manizales / Pereira then Nevado del Ruiz is worth a stop for the helmetcrest (very easy near visitors centre, no need to enter the park). Termales del Ruiz has good birding down the road, we got purple backed and rainbow bearded thornbill and a bunch of other stuff.

Agree with @simmojunior that hacienda el bosque doesn’t warrant more than 1 night, but it’s a lovely place.

Otun Quimbaya for multicoloured tanager and hooded antpitta (amongst others) is worth a visit also as mentioned.

I may be in a minority here but I was very underwhelmed by Rio Blanco, they won’t let you do much without a guide and most of our guided day was just waiting at feeders. Masked Saltator is probably the biggest reason (and antpittas) but I didn’t love it. Also generally found them quite unfriendly but that’s less important.

I’ve done quite a lot of birding in Colombia since my thread so do shout if you have any more questions.

Thank you so much for the info!

In a very lucky twist of fate Montezuma had a few nights become available during my dates so I'll be wrapping up my trip there and scrapping the Jardin plan.

It's been very interesting to read the less than glowing reviews of Rio Blanco on here. I have tentatively reserved 3 nights there, which realistically is about 1.5 days of birding after accounting for travel time. I think I'll have a look at other options, including Otun, as an alternative.

Yes, we plan on trying for the helmetcrest at the visitor centre and birding around Hotel Termales for all the hummers. Looks like a beautiful area!

 

[bazzzley]

Similar impression of Rio Blanco here (except found them very friendly). Underwhelmed by birding which was largely having pet antpittas loudly called in (not always successfully).
Accommodation was very comfortable though, one of the nicer lodges Ive stayed at in CO.
I think maybe it is overhyped slightly 🤔
Certainly other places discussed here- Otun, Montezuma, San Cipriano, Dona Dora- stand out more in my memories.

So interesting to read these reviews of Rio Blanco! Thanks for sharing.

 

[bazzzley]

With your time available I will echo others in saying it is not worth trying to fit in Jardin. Two nights in Rio Blanco is better than one as the general birding, away from the feeding stations can be very good, I've had lots of good flocks there over several visits. So having time to fit in both feeding stations and general birding is good. Also, if you've had enough of a given feeding station just move on.

For the higher elevation stuff, you are going to need your own transport to do Termales and Nevado del Ruiz. I would suggest considering just staying two nights at Hacienda El Bosque and doing a full day of Nevados/Termales arranging transport with the folks at El Bosque. You can then do the feeders at El Bosque the second morning.

After that, I see two logical options. The first is to do Otun Quimbaya, as mentioned by someone else. There is no loger accom at Flinca La Suiza is my understanding but some lodging further down the entrance road. They can probably hook you up with a taxi to take you to El Cedral (end of the road) where you can bird your way back.

The other option, if you want something similar to Montezuma, is to go to Bird's Home Mistrato - Google Maps . The local guide, Arnulfo, is good and there is a similar suite of birds to Montezuma though not the higher elevation stuff like the Flowerpiercer. Worth a couple nights there.

There are lots of good places for Cock-of-the-Rock, in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru etc. so if you miss it on this trip (they are at Otun, and around Mistrato as well) you'll have future opportunities!

Thanks for the tips! You're the only one so far with a positive review of Rio Blanco.

In a lucky twist Montezuma now has availability during my dates so I'm scrapping the Jardin plan and spending my last few days there! Looks like cock-of-the-rock are sporadically seen in Montezuma so maybe I'll luck out.

 

[simmojunior]

Many thanks for the tips and info! I saw in a couple threads you mentioned a guide, Daniel, whom you used at Rio Blanco and recommended. Do you have contact info for him? Was he provided by Rio Blanco or you hired him independently?

Do you have a ballpark range of what the cost of a car & driver for a full day would be in the Manizales area? I haven't come across that info anywhere. Would like to compare that to the cost of hiring our own rental car.

In a change of fortune Montezuma lodge now has availability end of March I'll be spending 3 nights there at the end of the trip! Somehow got very lucky with that. As a result I've scrapped the Jardin plan and added a couple days to the length of the trip to make the most of birding in Montezuma.

I will have to go back to visit the San Cipriano area and visit Doña Dora's!

If you ask the owner of Hacienda el Bosque, he'll be able to give you a quote for a driver and guide. He speaks perfect English.

Daniel was provided by Rio Blanco, who also provided another guide one day who was much less good. I suggest requesting Daniel if he is available.

 

[jwreeves]

In January this year we visited owls watch as part of an organised tour. This is the next property above Rio blanco, and our local guide was called Daniel, who grew up opposite the property. I suspect this may be the same Daniel? Owls watch has the same birds as Rio blanco, although only 2 antpitta species were being fed v 4 at Rio blanco, brown-banded and chestnut-crowned at owls watch. I can’t compare to Rio blanco but I enjoyed our morning here, and it was just the 4 in our group and a couple staying at the property. The lodgings and food seemed good too from what we saw on our short visit! Might be worth a look if you like the sound of the birds but not most the reviews from Rio blanco?

 

[digiscope09]

Not sure if you have sorted all this out but I recently stayed at Rio Blanco. If funds are not limited, stay up at Owls Watch as suggested. Birding at Rio Blanco (2 nights) was very average and I would not go there again.
I would fly into Periera airport, rent car and drive to Montezuma. If it has not been raining much up there, you can drive up to the lodge in a small SUV. If its been raining, leave your car at Puerto Rico and they will pick you up and take you up to the lodge in 4WD. They will advise you. After that, I would do, Hotel Termales el Ruiz, Glamping El Color de Mis Rêves and Hacienda del Bosque. No need to stay overnight at Glamping El Color de Mis Rêves or Hacienda del Bosque as the action and guiding happens in the morning. Afternoons are quiet in most places unless you stay at Tinamou Lodge and use it as a base for three days. Bit further to travel for morning outings but you can bird and relax at their lodge in the afternoons and pick up quite a few good birds. Accommodation and meals are good.
Do Otun Quimbaya nature reserve on your return to Pereira but note the forestry lodge is now closed so it might be a day trip before flying back to Bogota.
Also re Jardin, the COTR site is now very commercialized with cafe, many non birders etc and not so pleasant as it was. The owner's priority seems to be getting as many people in there as she can. Can be difficult if you are a photographer.
On your next trip, as suggested by others, fly into Cali, rent a small car and spend a full day at Dona Dora where you can see COTR and many, many other species. After that, check into a lodge at KM18 area. You can then spend 2-3 days birding around that area which is very good. Luis and Angela at Bosque de Niebla Birding & Nature are very obliging. You will see a squillion hummingbirds around there.