Venezuela
Forests, the Llanos and Angel Falls
Saturday 1 - Tuesday 11 December 2007 (11 days)
Angel Falls Extension to Saturday 15 December (4 days)
Saturday 29 Nov - Tuesday 9 December 2008 (11 days)
Angel Falls Extension to Saturday 13 December (4 days)
One of the most diverse of South American countries, Venezuela hosts a huge variety of birds. Our tour starts with the coastal forests of Henri Pittier, continues to the coastal reserves of Morrocoy, the fabulous Hato Piñero Ranch on the immensely bird-rich Llanos and finishes at the incredible and world-renowned Angel Falls
Venezuela offers a splendid introduction to South America and its birdlife, encompassing most of the major tropical habitats of the continent: from wonderful bird-packed wetlands to dry bush country and wet tropical rainforests.
With good transport connections and some excellent lodges, the infrastructure is relatively good, and the fine Field Guide makes bird identification a little less bewildering than in some South American countries.
We cover the biologically-rich north of the country. Starting at the diverse array of forest zones of the coastal mountains of Henri Pittier National Park, we travel to the coastal reserves at Morrocoy, with a trip inland to the drier plains, and then end with a stay on the Llanos: a complex of dry bush country and wetland that makes for some of the continent's most impressive birding. Our lodge here, Hato Piñero, is widely regarded as one of the top birdwatching sites in the whole continent! Finally, our extension suggested by clients! travels to the Canaima National Park, the gateway to the Angel Falls, the world's highest waterfall.
Local guide for the tour will be biologist Cecilia Herrera, who has worked since 1988 as a professional guide, naturalist and field ornithologist. She has guided birding tours all over Venezuela. Cecilia´s field ornithological skills and knowledge, including ability to identify birds rapidly by sight and by vocalization, today rank her among a select and elite few within her country.
Prices:
Main tour: 2007: £ 2,695
2008: £ 2,795
Extension: 2007: £ 675
2008: £ 745
Single supps.:
Main tour: 2007: £ 125
2008: £ 135
Extension: 2007: £ 75
2008: £ 85
Deposit: £ 400 per person
The price includes scheduled return flights London/Caracas, airport taxes, ground transportation, accommodation on a full-board basis, admissions, local taxes, and the services of the leader(s).
The price excludes holiday insurance, drinks, optional tips to the local guide and drivers, and other personal expenses.
Leaders: Neil Arnold and Cecilia Herrera (main tour only)
Itinerary
Day 1
We take an early morning flight from London, arriving in Caracas in the afternoon. It is a three to four hour drive to our family run inn located in Maracay, gateway to Henri Pittier, Venezuela's first National Park. The impressive Park bird list tops 550 species, including over thirty species of hummingbirds. This superb biological wonderland extends from cloud forest at 2,240m, through several diverse habitats, reaching down to the Caribbean Sea.
Overnight Maracay
Day 2
Leaving our inn after an early breakfast, we will birdwatch along the famous Ocumare Road at dawn before visiting the world-renowned Rancho Grande Biological Station. Here we will explore the trails looking for secretive forest birds such as Venezuelan Wood-Quail, Guttulated Foliage-gleaner, Grey-throated Leaftosser, Venezuelan Antvireo, Black-faced Ant-Thrush, Plain-backed Antpitta and - with luck - Violaceous Quail-Dove. We will hope for a mixed feeding flock with endemics such as Venezuelan Bristle-Tyrant and Handsome Fruiteater. Once the sun rises high enough, we will be on the terrace of the biological station on the lookout for soaring raptors like Ornate and Black Hawk-Eagles, Solitary Eagle, White Hawk and Great Black-Hawk. Blood-eared Parakeet, White-tipped Quetzal, Rufous-lored Tyrannulet, Swallow Tanager, neotropical migrants and hummingbirds can often be seen from our vantage point too. In addition, Rancho Grande is the perfect place to get a look at Red Howler Monkeys and Three-toed Sloths.
Overnight Maracay
Day 3
Today we will birdwatch from the cloud forest along the famous Choroní Road. Our day will probably begin with a picnic breakfast at the cloud forest pass searching for such species as Band-tailed Guan, Groove-billed Toucanet, Golden-breasted Fruiteater, Rufous-cheeked Tanager, Ochre-breasted Brush-Finch and perhaps the secretive Schwartz's Antthrush. The rest of the day will be spent birding the cloud forest and lower elevations on either side of the mountain pass.
Overnight Maracay
Day 4
Our last morning in Henri Pittier NP will be spent looking for the specialities and endemics we are still missing. We might be searching for Northern Helmeted Curassows or Foothill Screech-Owls along the Ocumare Road or teasing Golden-winged Sparrows out of the deciduous forests lower down. Or perhaps we will simply spend a morning watching raptors and photographing tanagers or hummingbirds on the terrace of the Rancho Grande Biological Station.
After lunch we will make the two hour drive to the Morrocoy area. With a bird list of over 350 species, it is surprising that this area has only recently begun to find its way onto wildlife tour itineraries. The Cuare Faunal Refuge and Ramsar Site was created in 1972 to protect saline coastal lagoons, while the larger Morrocoy National Park was formed in 1974 to safeguard marine and coastal habitats including mangroves, coastal dry scrub and coral keys. Together these two areas form the heart of a wildlife-rich enclave in eastern Falcón State. We will check into our family-run inn and birdwatch in the grounds for the last couple of hours of light.
Overnight Morrocoy
Day 5
We will likely be up early to birdwatch in the dry coastal scrub in search of specialities like Buffy Hummingbird, Scaled Piculet, Black-backed Antshrike and Tawny-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant. The mangroves harbour Golden Warbler and Bicoloured Conebill as well as the rare and threatened endemic Plain-flanked Rail.
In the afternoon, a visit to the Cuare Faunal Refuge and Ramsar Site should produce American Flamingos sometimes in the thousands and perhaps Bare-eyed Pigeons. We should also see a host of American shorebirds together with residents like Scarlet Ibis and Common Black-Hawk.
Overnight Morrocoy
Day 6
Today we will head inland to bird the plains and limestone outcrops. In a mosaic of pastureland and deciduous forest we will enjoy some open country birding with Red-and-Green Macaw, Caribbean Hornero, Hooded Tanager, White-eared Conebill and a host of other birds. Small pools are the home of the threatened endemic Rusty-flanked Crake. Just a few kilometres inland, slightly more humid limestone forests provide habitat for the rare Black-and-White Hawk-Eagle, while nearby wetlands are the domain of Horned Screamer.
Overnight Morrocoy
Days 7 - 9
We will depart early to drive into the vast interior of Venezuela: the llanos. The Llanos - a mix of wet and dry savannas - offer some of the most spectacular birding in the world. Our lodge, Hato Piñero has successfully combined cattle ranching with conservation of this superb habitat, and now hosts one of the world's great wildlife spectacles. Here can be found capybaras and caimans, armadillos and anteaters, peccaries and ocelots, and even Vampire Bats!
The fantastic wetlands form the core of the wildlife habitat, and teem with herons and egrets (over a dozen species including Agami Heron), ibises (no less than seven species including Scarlet Ibis), wildfowl including real wild Muscovy Duck, storks including the dramatic Jabiru, Roseate Spoonbill, Horned Screamer, and, in pools in the forest, Sunbittern. Raptors are abundant, with over twenty species.
The trees hold flocks of Scarlet Macaws, and the wonderful, prehistoric-looking Hoatzin can be seen clambering about. The open savannah holds another range of birds, and we'll be going out looking for flycatchers, Rufous-tailed Jacamar and others. Night excursions can produce Lesser, Band-tailed and Nacunda Nighthawks, White-tailed Nightjars and Great Horned Owls, and both Great and Common Potoos.
We have a chance for Anacondas, along with mammals such as Red Howler Monkey and very occasionally cats. This ranch is also one of the best places in the country to see a large cat, though our chances are still small.
Our accommodation at Hato Piñero is in spacious, air-conditioned, attractively furnished bungalows, each with a private bathroom. The dining room serves excellent family-style meals. At the end of a long day we may be entertained by the famous Venezuelan cowboys, the llaneros, who, with their harps, cuatros (four-stringed guitars) and maracas, present their beautiful national music for visitors.
Three nights Hato Piñero
Day 10
We spend the day returning to Caracas for our flight back to the UK (for those not participating in the extension), departing in the evening, and arriving on Day 11.
Canaima & Angel Falls extension
Day 10
After lunch at Caracas Airport we take a mid-afternoon flight to Puerto Ordaz.
Overnight Puerto Ordaz
Day 11
We will have an early morning transfer to Puerto Ordaz airport and, after a quick breakfast, catch a scheduled business flight to the indigenous Pemon village of Canaima in the heart of the Canaima National Park. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and forms the gateway to the Angel Falls, the world's highest waterfall.
At 30,000 sq. km, the park is one of the ten largest in the world and forms part of the largest tropical wilderness on the planet. It is famous for the characteristic flat-topped Table Mountains, or tepuis, popularised in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel The Lost World and much filmed by the BBC for natural history documentaries. During our stay we will see the tepuis and to experience the natural environments of the region.
Our guides on the extension will be local indigenous people.
On arrival, we have a look at the birds of the Canaima Lagoon, after which we will have lunch, followed by an afternoon of birdwatching locally.
Overnight Canaima Camp
Day 12
After breakfast, we will have a full day river trip to base of Angel Falls in a traditional Pemon curiara (a type of canoe), leaving at 5am. After travelling up the beautiful river canyon and visiting the Falls, we will enjoy a barbecue lunch before returning at 6pm for dinner.
Overnight Canaima Camp
Day 13
After breakfast, we will have the chance to explore the environs of Canaima Camp. After lunch, we will fly back to Puero Ordaz. If weather conditions allow, this may include an over-flight of the Angel Falls.
Overnight Puerto Ordaz
Day 14
After breakfast, we will have an early morning transfer to Puerto Ordaz for our flight back to Caracas airport to connect with our international flights back to the UK, arriving on Day 15.
Accommodation will be in guest-houses and lodges as described, with all rooms en suite.
Numbers: Max. 14 clients
Day 1
We take an early morning flight from London, arriving in Caracas in the afternoon. It is a three to four hour drive to our family run inn located in Maracay, gateway to Henri Pittier, Venezuela's first National Park. The impressive Park bird list tops 550 species, including over thirty species of hummingbirds. This superb biological wonderland extends from cloud forest at 2,240m, through several diverse habitats, reaching down to the Caribbean Sea.
Overnight Maracay
Day 2
Leaving our inn after an early breakfast, we will birdwatch along the famous Ocumare Road at dawn before visiting the world-renowned Rancho Grande Biological Station. Here we will explore the trails looking for secretive forest birds such as Venezuelan Wood-Quail, Guttulated Foliage-gleaner, Grey-throated Leaftosser, Venezuelan Antvireo, Black-faced Ant-Thrush, Plain-backed Antpitta and - with luck - Violaceous Quail-Dove. We will hope for a mixed feeding flock with endemics such as Venezuelan Bristle-Tyrant and Handsome Fruiteater. Once the sun rises high enough, we will be on the terrace of the biological station on the lookout for soaring raptors like Ornate and Black Hawk-Eagles, Solitary Eagle, White Hawk and Great Black-Hawk. Blood-eared Parakeet, White-tipped Quetzal, Rufous-lored Tyrannulet, Swallow Tanager, neotropical migrants and hummingbirds can often be seen from our vantage point too. In addition, Rancho Grande is the perfect place to get a look at Red Howler Monkeys and Three-toed Sloths.
Overnight Maracay
Day 3
Today we will birdwatch from the cloud forest along the famous Choroní Road. Our day will probably begin with a picnic breakfast at the cloud forest pass searching for such species as Band-tailed Guan, Groove-billed Toucanet, Golden-breasted Fruiteater, Rufous-cheeked Tanager, Ochre-breasted Brush-Finch and perhaps the secretive Schwartz's Antthrush. The rest of the day will be spent birding the cloud forest and lower elevations on either side of the mountain pass.
Overnight Maracay
Day 4
Our last morning in Henri Pittier NP will be spent looking for the specialities and endemics we are still missing. We might be searching for Northern Helmeted Curassows or Foothill Screech-Owls along the Ocumare Road or teasing Golden-winged Sparrows out of the deciduous forests lower down. Or perhaps we will simply spend a morning watching raptors and photographing tanagers or hummingbirds on the terrace of the Rancho Grande Biological Station.
After lunch we will make the two hour drive to the Morrocoy area. With a bird list of over 350 species, it is surprising that this area has only recently begun to find its way onto wildlife tour itineraries. The Cuare Faunal Refuge and Ramsar Site was created in 1972 to protect saline coastal lagoons, while the larger Morrocoy National Park was formed in 1974 to safeguard marine and coastal habitats including mangroves, coastal dry scrub and coral keys. Together these two areas form the heart of a wildlife-rich enclave in eastern Falcón State. We will check into our family-run inn and birdwatch in the grounds for the last couple of hours of light.
Overnight Morrocoy
Day 5
We will likely be up early to birdwatch in the dry coastal scrub in search of specialities like Buffy Hummingbird, Scaled Piculet, Black-backed Antshrike and Tawny-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant. The mangroves harbour Golden Warbler and Bicoloured Conebill as well as the rare and threatened endemic Plain-flanked Rail.
In the afternoon, a visit to the Cuare Faunal Refuge and Ramsar Site should produce American Flamingos sometimes in the thousands and perhaps Bare-eyed Pigeons. We should also see a host of American shorebirds together with residents like Scarlet Ibis and Common Black-Hawk.
Overnight Morrocoy
Day 6
Today we will head inland to bird the plains and limestone outcrops. In a mosaic of pastureland and deciduous forest we will enjoy some open country birding with Red-and-Green Macaw, Caribbean Hornero, Hooded Tanager, White-eared Conebill and a host of other birds. Small pools are the home of the threatened endemic Rusty-flanked Crake. Just a few kilometres inland, slightly more humid limestone forests provide habitat for the rare Black-and-White Hawk-Eagle, while nearby wetlands are the domain of Horned Screamer.
Overnight Morrocoy
Days 7 - 9
We will depart early to drive into the vast interior of Venezuela: the llanos. The Llanos - a mix of wet and dry savannas - offer some of the most spectacular birding in the world. Our lodge, Hato Piñero has successfully combined cattle ranching with conservation of this superb habitat, and now hosts one of the world's great wildlife spectacles. Here can be found capybaras and caimans, armadillos and anteaters, peccaries and ocelots, and even Vampire Bats!
The fantastic wetlands form the core of the wildlife habitat, and teem with herons and egrets (over a dozen species including Agami Heron), ibises (no less than seven species including Scarlet Ibis), wildfowl including real wild Muscovy Duck, storks including the dramatic Jabiru, Roseate Spoonbill, Horned Screamer, and, in pools in the forest, Sunbittern. Raptors are abundant, with over twenty species.
The trees hold flocks of Scarlet Macaws, and the wonderful, prehistoric-looking Hoatzin can be seen clambering about. The open savannah holds another range of birds, and we'll be going out looking for flycatchers, Rufous-tailed Jacamar and others. Night excursions can produce Lesser, Band-tailed and Nacunda Nighthawks, White-tailed Nightjars and Great Horned Owls, and both Great and Common Potoos.
We have a chance for Anacondas, along with mammals such as Red Howler Monkey and very occasionally cats. This ranch is also one of the best places in the country to see a large cat, though our chances are still small.
Our accommodation at Hato Piñero is in spacious, air-conditioned, attractively furnished bungalows, each with a private bathroom. The dining room serves excellent family-style meals. At the end of a long day we may be entertained by the famous Venezuelan cowboys, the llaneros, who, with their harps, cuatros (four-stringed guitars) and maracas, present their beautiful national music for visitors.
Three nights Hato Piñero
Day 10
We spend the day returning to Caracas for our flight back to the UK (for those not participating in the extension), departing in the evening, and arriving on Day 11.
Canaima & Angel Falls extension
Day 10
After lunch at Caracas Airport we take a mid-afternoon flight to Puerto Ordaz.
Overnight Puerto Ordaz
Day 11
We will have an early morning transfer to Puerto Ordaz airport and, after a quick breakfast, catch a scheduled business flight to the indigenous Pemon village of Canaima in the heart of the Canaima National Park. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and forms the gateway to the Angel Falls, the world's highest waterfall.
At 30,000 sq. km, the park is one of the ten largest in the world and forms part of the largest tropical wilderness on the planet. It is famous for the characteristic flat-topped Table Mountains, or tepuis, popularised in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel The Lost World and much filmed by the BBC for natural history documentaries. During our stay we will see the tepuis and to experience the natural environments of the region.
Our guides on the extension will be local indigenous people.
On arrival, we have a look at the birds of the Canaima Lagoon, after which we will have lunch, followed by an afternoon of birdwatching locally.
Overnight Canaima Camp
Day 12
After breakfast, we will have a full day river trip to base of Angel Falls in a traditional Pemon curiara (a type of canoe), leaving at 5am. After travelling up the beautiful river canyon and visiting the Falls, we will enjoy a barbecue lunch before returning at 6pm for dinner.
Overnight Canaima Camp
Day 13
After breakfast, we will have the chance to explore the environs of Canaima Camp. After lunch, we will fly back to Puero Ordaz. If weather conditions allow, this may include an over-flight of the Angel Falls.
Overnight Puerto Ordaz
Day 14
After breakfast, we will have an early morning transfer to Puerto Ordaz for our flight back to Caracas airport to connect with our international flights back to the UK, arriving on Day 15.
Accommodation will be in guest-houses and lodges as described, with all rooms en suite.
Numbers: Max. 14 clients