Join naturalist and broadcaster Mike Dilger on this extensive wildlife holiday to Ecuador, where the astonishing array of habitats and landscapes is home to a simply staggering 10% of the world’s biodiversity.
Sandwiched between the larger South American countries of Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has to be the ultimate example of ‘all good things coming in small packages’. Framed by an extensive Pacific coastline to the west, the Andes further inland run like a backbone down the entire length of the country. Here, the western slopes of this immense mountain range are cloaked in cloudforest, which are home to birds like the cock-of-the-rock and toucan barbet as well as a colour assemblage of hummingbirds and tanagers.
At still higher altitudes, the cloudforests on both the western and eastern slopes eventually give way to páramo grassland, snow-capped mountains and volcanoes. This land above the treeline, where the vegetation is reminiscent of alpine tundra, also happens to be the domain of two of Ecuador’s most famous residents - that of the spectacled bear and Andean condor.
Continuing steadily east, the mountains fall away once more to form the western reaches of the world’s greatest tropical forest - that of the Amazon. Here, Ecuador’s extensive primary rainforest is simply the most species-rich biome on the planet, with everything from monkey to macaws in the forests, while the reserve’s rivers and lagoons hold giant river otters, caimans and freshwater dolphins.
Our tour leader Mike Dilger used to live in Ecuador while working as a researcher in the Ecuadorian Amazon and as the resident biologist in Maquipucuna’s cloudforest. A fluent Spanish speaker, Mike simply describes the Ecuadorian cloudforest as his ‘favourite destination on earth’ and cannot wait to show you the place he considers his ‘spiritual home’.
Typical Itinerary
Day1: Depart UK & arrive Quito
Today, we depart the UK early to board our international flights to Ecuador. We land in Quito, where we are met and transferred to our hotel.
Accommodation: Swissotel Quito, 1-night
Day2: Transfer to Maquipucuna
This morning, after breakfast, we leave Quito and transfer to Maquipucuna, which is approximately three hours’ drive away. Once we reach the reserve, we check in at the ecolodge. In the afternoon, we head out on our first excursion on foot to enjoy the flora and fauna of Maquipucuna.
Accommodation: Maquipucuna Ecolodge, 3-nights
Days3-4: Explore Maquipucuna
For the next two days, we explore the Maquipucuna Reserve on foot to enjoy its variety and abundance of wildlife. With Mike and the local guides, we hope to encounter a wonderful array of bird species with toucan barbet, golden-headed quetzal, plate-billed mountain toucan being some possible highlights along with agouti, kinkajou and armadillo to give us our sightings. We return to the lodge for meals and can relax at the open-air restaurant in the evenings and recount the day's sightings.
Day5: Transfer to Antisana & visit Chakana Reserve
This morning, we're transferred to Antisana which takes between three and four hours. We check in to our accommodation and enjoy lunch before visiting the Chakana Reserve.
The habitat of this reserve means it will provide us with opportunities to potentially observe spectacled bears, though some patience and luck will be needed. This paramo environment is rich in important food sources for spectacled bears and particularly a species of ground bromeliad known as the puya which is abundant in this ecosystem. We explore the reserve by vehicle and on foot.
Accommodation: Tambo Condor, 1-night
Day6: Explore Chakana & Cayambe Coca Reserves
This morning we return to Chakana Reserve for another opportunity to encounter spectacled bears and the other intriguing species that reside here.
Following lunch, we continue to Cayambe Coca Reserve, which is a protected area that covers habitats from cloudforest to paramo. Cayambe Coca is another excellent location for encountering spectacled bears. We spend time exploring the wild grasslands of this reserve, which are frequented by spectacled bears (and sometimes mountain tapir) who come to feed. We also focus on the forested areas on the edge of the grasslands, which could provide further sightings of these elusive mammals.
Whilst scanning the paramo for these elusive mammals, we should also see a number of enthralling bird species such as the Andean condor, carunculated caracara, Andean gull, black-tailed trainbearer and southern yellow grosbeak.
After spending the afternoon at Cayambe Coca, we're transferred to our next accommodation, where we have dinner and stay for the night.
Accommodation: Guango Lodge, 1-night
Day7: Return to Quito
This morning, we have another opportunity to visit the Cayambe Coca Reserve before returning to Quito, where we spend the night.
Accommodation: Swissotel Quito, 1-night
Day8: Fly to Coca & transfer to the Napo River
Early in the morning, we return to the airport in Quito to catch a domestic flight to the town of Coca. After landing in Coca on the banks of the Napo River in the Upper Amazon Basin, we continue by covered motorboat down river for around two hours to the fringes of the Yasuní National Park and then a further two hours by canoe to our accommodation at the Napo Wildlife Centre.
With three full days in the Amazon Basin, we have plenty of time for an immersive rainforest experience. There is so much wildlife to see within the immediate vicinity of the lodge, and a number of species are habituated and relatively easy to see, including birds like the hoatzin and monkeys like marmosets.
Highlights could include visiting two clay licks where several species of parrots and macaws may visit. Canopy towers also offer a bird's-eye view of the rainforest tree tops. Early morning visits can serve up furious and bewildering bird and primate watching activity, with species impossible to see from ground level suddenly in plain view and easy to observe. There is potential to see parrots and macaws, numerous different tanagers, toucans, araçaris, spider monkeys, and capuchins. We also spend time looking for poison-dart frogs, other rainforest frogs, reptiles, butterflies and other insects.
Day12: Return to Coca & transfer to Papallacta
In the morning, we return to Coca to catch our flight back to Quito. On arrival in Ecuador’s capital city, we continue by road to the eastern slopes of the Andes to Papallacta.
Accommodation: Termas de Papallacta, 2-nights
Day13: Explore Papallacta & the surrounding paramo
We have the whole day to explore the páramo (Andean ‘Alpine’ habitat) and high-elevation forests. Key species we hope to observe include Andean condor and sword-billed hummingbird, several other specialist high-elevation bird species, and a variety of unusual and charismatic frog species.
Day14: Return to Quito & departure
Today, we depart Papallacta and transfer straight to the airport in Quito to connect with our return flights to the UK.
Day15: Arrive UK
Please note: This itinerary may change due to weather or wildlife sightings.
Key info
Duration and price including flights from/to UK: 15 daysfrom £7,995 pp
Duration and price excluding international flights: 14 daysfrom £7,195 pp
Single supplement:
On request – please contact us.
Mike Dilger has been an obsessive naturalist since childhood, equally at home either identifying wild flowers in the British countryside, or surveying the Amazon for hummingbirds.
With degrees in Botany and Ecology, Mike’s obsession with the tropics began when studying moths in the South American Andes. This then led to over five years carrying out research work in the tropical forests of Ecuador, Vietnam, Tanzania and Peru.
Finally emerging out of the bush and returning to Britain to find a job in television, Mike is probably best known as the wildlife expert on the BBC’s The One Show. Pontificating about everything from bumblebees to basking sharks, Mike has racked up over 450 appearances during his 15 years on the show.
His main job now is as a professional plate spinner, which involves intermingling TV commitments, tour-leading, writing and giving talks. Mike leads trips for Wildlife Worldwide from the Somerset Levels to the Scottish Highlands in the UK, while abroad he takes guests to Ecuador and Madagascar.
A columnist for BBC Wildlife Magazine, Mike has also written eight nature-themed books, with his most recent being One Thousand Shades of Green - A Year in Search of Britain’s Wild Plants.
Ecuador’s capital stands at an altitude of 2,850 metres on the slopes of the active volcano of Pichincha. Founded in the 16th century on the ruins of an Inca city, the old town is very atmospheric, and several day tours are available, including the Mitad del Mundo monument on the equator.
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The Napo River region and the biologically diverse Yasuni National Park lie at the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Bird species number around 600 and mammal diversity is very high, with numerous primates and predators. A motorised canoe down the Napo takes you into the heart of the rainforest and its creeks.
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Where: Napo Province
Ideal for viewing: sungrebe, harpy eagle, tropical kingbird, howler monkey, capuchin monkey
From the high mountain peaks down to the Pacific on the west and Amazon Basin on the east, the opposite slopes of the Andes form very different, yet diverse and ever-changing forest ecosystems. Both eastern and western slopes provide fascinating habitat for a great variety of birds and mammals.
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Nestling at the foot of Antisana volcano, Papallacta’s scenery is spectacular with rocky peaks and a vast sweep of bleak páramo above the tree line. At Antisanilla you can see an impressive lava flow and a deep canyon where Andean condor are regularly sighted. Gentians and orchids surround the many lakes.
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Napo Wildlife Centre is the only lodge in Yasunì National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Built and run in conjunction with the local indigenous community, each of its 16 spacious cabanas has a private balcony, and facilities include an observation tower with a 360° view of the surrounding forest and its wildlife.
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