Cloud Forest, Birwatching And Trek… (trip)

Log in or Register

Cloud Forest, Birwatching And Trek Tours

  • Quito airport, Quito, Ecuador
  • Culture & Nature
Ecuador, South America

To check availability or book,
contact Tropic Journeys in Nature:

Period offered: Year-round. The provider (view their profile) can provide you with specific departure dates, final prices, and other information.


privacy notice
Your email address is safe from marketers! The address you provide will be used to contact this provider just like a regular email message. No third parties will be given access to your email address, nor will we ever sell it to them. TravelDragon hates spam too!
Do you want a brochure/catalog?
How should the provider respond to you?


Contact provider for price4 DaysYear-round
Comfort accommodations Exertion level: 3
Operator: Tropic Journeys in Nature 12 people max
Tropic provides activities such as adventure hikes with spectacular mountain top views over the forest, and mountain bikes to take visitors deep into the heart of the cloud forest, where with a little luck they will see one of the rare spectacled bears whose habitat this is.

A beautiful eco-lodge has been built and perches at 6500ft. in the cloud forest with spectacular views of the Andes.

The lodge accommodates up to 20 guests with double or family rooms, with shared bathrooms and hot showers. Three delicious meals are served a day. Experienced and friendly naturalist and birding guides will make your stay into an unforgettable experience.

The community of Santa Lucia, situated on the N. W. slopes of the Andes in Ecuador, was originally an agricultural/ livestock cooperative whose major purpose was to distribute land for peasant settlers. With time community members became aware of the need to protect their cloud forest heritage and have exchanged their traditional activities for more sustainable options such as eco-tourism and conservation. The cloud forest, forms part of the Choco-bio-region, one of the most diverse eco-systems on this planet.

Loading map, please wait...

Locations visited/nearby

Ecuador, South America

Comments from Facebook

Special information

  • This is a custom departure, meaning this trip is offered on dates that you arrange privately with the provider. Additionally, you need to form your own private group for this trip. The itinerary and price here is just a sample. Contact the provider for detailed pricing, minimum group size, and scheduling information. For most providers, the larger the group you are traveling with, the lower the per-person cost will be.

Itinerary

Day 1
Drive from Quito to the impressive crater of the extinct volcano Pululahua, with its maze of gullies and crags, forested with lush mountain vegetation and networks of fields and settlements.

Drive to Calacalí for a tour of this typical rural Andean town in a mountain setting. Calacalí claims to be the true 'centre of the world' and has its own monument.

Drive to Yunguilla for lunch followed by an introduction to this mountain community and its conservation projects including a tour of its organic cheese and jam-making production and organic gardens. After dinner spend the night in Yunguilla’s Tahuallullo ecolodge.

Day 2
Breakfast followed by a drive along a beautiful mountain track to Ali where you will set off on this full day mostly downhill hike through primary forest, to our birding tower. The trail begins at an altitude of 2.600 meters and descends to 1.900 meters. Along the way are many species of birds, including toucans, tanagers, hummingbirds and raptors; tropical plants, especially orchids; and with luck you will see the tracks of pumas or wild pigs. Parts of the trail are an ancient trade route used by the pre-Inca Yumbo people.

Have lunch at our birding tower located in an area of exceptionally high bird density and enjoy the views over the volcanoes Pichincha and Cotacachi.
After lunch, continue the hike on, arriving at Santa Lucia ecolodge for a candle-lit dinner and where you will spend the night.

*Your additional luggage not needed for your trip will be taken ahead by car to Santa Lucia.

Day 3
Breakfast followed by a tour of Santa Lucia and its conservation projects including a reforestation project, a native tree nursery, agroforestry projects and the production of organic panela (sugar). Lunch followed by a hike around our self-guided trail, which includes a giant tree swing, or simply relax in the hammocks, watch the hummingbirds and enjoy the spectacular panoramic view.

Dinner in the lodge followed by an optional night hike to see and hear the sounds of nocturnal animals and birds of prey

Day 4
Breakfast followed by a hike down the trail through the organic banana plantation to a beautiful waterfall where you can swim. Continue on down an ancient trade trail carved into the mountain by the pre-Inca Yumbo people, stopping for a box lunch on the way.

Arrive in the afternoon in the picturesque village of Marianita with an optional visit to the Colibríes women’s artisan cooperative and drive back to Quito arriving at approx. 5pm.

More information from Tropic Journeys in Nature: