Ecuador Photography Tour: Chocó Cloud Forest to Amazon Lowlands

Landing at Mariscal Sucre International Airport, a private transfer carries you to Tababela in the inter-Andean valley, a short ride ending at a hacienda-style lodge. After settling in, an unhurried stroll through the Zaysant Ecolodge grounds offers a first taste of Ecuador's birds, including Sparkling Violetear, Black-tailed Trainbearer, Great Thrush, Saffron Finch and Blue-and-yellow Tanager. A tour orientation covers the itinerary ahead, from the Chocó cloud forests to the Amazon headwaters. Dinner is open, with an early night before departing into the western Andes.

Leaving Quito, the route winds west down the Andean foothills into the montane Chocó toward the Tandayapa Valley. At the valley entrance, Alambi Hummingbird Feeders at Alambi Reserve allow close, unhurried observation of hummingbirds among flowering vegetation, with lunch served facing the feeders. The afternoon continues climbing through cloud forest to Bellavista Lodge at 2,200 m, where lodge feeders attract further hummingbird species and forest trails offer a first sense of the montane Chocó, followed by dinner as night settles over the surroundings.

Walking the primary montane Chocó forest near Tandayapa Cloud Forest, the day unfolds on reserve trails that thread the understory at roughly 2,100 m. Road edges offer chances to track mixed-species flocks, the local rondas, and to observe their movement. Back at Bellavista Lodge, hummingbird feeders extend the experience, with possible views of montane Chocó endemics. Breakfast is included, and dinner is served at the lodge as the forest darkens.

Breakfast precedes a morning among the hides of the Chocó Bird Reserve, high in the Tandayapa Valley, where toucans, tanagers, hummingbirds, barbets and warblers approach the feeding areas. The afternoon shifts to the San Tadeo Reserve hides, with tanagers and other passerines filling the frames; weather and species movement shape the order of visits. A short transfer climbs to the Mindo Valley heights, settling in at Sachatamia Lodge for dinner and the night, the base for the next morning's descent to Paz de las Aves.

At Paz de las Aves, an early breakfast precedes time at the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek, where the courtship display can be photographed, before owner Ángel guides the group to see Giant, Yellow-breasted and Moustached antpittas. Lunch follows, then a Fruttitour photo blind near Pedro Vicente Maldonado offers patient observation of lowland Chocó species, with Choco Toucan, Pale-mandibled Aracari, Red-headed Barbet and Club-winged Manakin among possible visitors. An evening transfer reaches a lodge in the Mashpi Valley, dinner is served there, and two nights at the Mashpi Amagusa Reserve provide a base for exploring this birding area.

Spend a full day exploring Mashpi Amagusa Reserve, a mixed protection zone set at roughly 1,400 m where original vegetation and lowland Chocó-like climate create a crossroads of lowland and montane bird assemblages. Accompanied by the reserve's owner, follow his local knowledge to seek flagship species such as fruiteaters, solitaires, Long-wattled Umbrellabird, Moss-backed Tanager and Choco Vireo. Breakfast is included, and dinner is served at the Mashpi Amagusa Reserve Lodge, based in the Mashpi Valley for two nights.

Start among the Mashpi-Amagusa Reserve feeders, where quiet patience draws out understory Choco endemics. A mid-morning transfer then drops to the Milpe Bird Sanctuary, whose trails pass manakin leks and frequent mega-flocks, while hummingbird, tanager and toucan feeders keep activity high. Late afternoon brings a crossing of the inter-Andean valley, leaving cloud forest behind for open high Andes. Dinner and the night are at Tambo Condor, a standard hacienda at 3,500 m in the Antisana area, positioned for the Antisanilla Reserve the following morning.

A morning drive into the Antisana Ecological Reserve reaches an observation platform, where telescopes scan the condor nesting walls of one of Ecuador's key Andean Condor populations. The route then moves through scrubby high-altitude vegetation for hummingbirds and high-Andean passerines, climbing toward the páramo near 4,000 m, with a short walk along La Mica lagoon adding waterbirds. After descending for lunch around hummingbird feeders, the group tries for Spectacled Bear at the lower feeders, a possibility rather than a promise. The afternoon continues to Papallacta, where dinner is open and hot springs offer a natural close.

After breakfast, the morning at Papallacta Pass offers a choice: the thermal complex or the super-humid páramo of Cayambe-Coca reserve, searching above 4,000 m for Ecuador's high-altitude species across temperate forest, lagoons, elfin scrub and Polylepis woodland, weather permitting up to the antennas above 4,300 m. Lunch follows at the Guango reserve's hummingbird garden on the eastern slope. The afternoon descent crosses elfin, high-Andean and cloud forest to San Isidro Lodge, home for two nights with hide and feeders, where dinner is served.

Breakfast precedes a day exploring the mist-wrapped cloud forest around San Isidro, where humidity nurtures epiphytes, mosses, orchids, bromeliads and cacti, along with frogs, birds and small mammals; the forest sets the pace. In the afternoon, a visit to the Yanayacu scientific station includes a researcher's presentation on Ecuadorian bird reproductive biology and caterpillar parasite studies, with the caterpillars becoming an unexpected macro-photography subject. Dinner follows at San Isidro Lodge, home for two nights on the eastern slope of the Andes, then an after-dinner attempt to observe a Choliba-group owl possibly new to science.

Starting at the San Isidro hummingbird garden, the lower hide is used from first light through much of the morning for observing and photographing birds, with time at the feeders afterward. A long transfer then crosses the inter-Andean valley, climbs Papallacta Pass and drops into the high Amazon, arriving at WildSumaco Lodge in the buffer zone of Sumaco National Park, where subtropical forest sits at 1,500 m. Dinner follows at the lodge, the base for two nights.

Breakfast precedes a full day at WildSumaco Wildlife Sanctuary, a lesser-known reserve where Amazonian piedmont meets the high Andes and where conservation and research have recorded many usually rare species. Explore road edges, humid subtropical forest trails and forest creeks, then spend time at the feeding areas and observation platforms facing the lodge. Dinner follows at WildSumaco Lodge, kept for two nights at 1,500 m within the buffer zone of Sumaco National Park amid full subtropical Amazonian forest.

Breakfast precedes the road transfer from WildSumaco descending to Coca, the Napo province departure point, with a boxed lunch fitted around the schedule. From Coca's docks, a motorized pirogue travels roughly three hours down the Napo River, Ecuador's largest Amazon tributary, its silt-laden white-water colour marking the Andean origins. Near Yasuní National Park within Sani community territory, paddle canoes take over through narrow blackwater channels, their tannin-dark tea waters leading to the lagoon at 250 m. Check-in at Sani Lodge follows, with dinner closing the travel day ahead of four nights in Amazon forest.

After breakfast, a paddle canoe and motorized pirogue carry the group from the lagoon to the Napo River banks. At the Añangu clay licks, parrot species gather at an open riverbank saladero and a cave-like forest saladero to ingest mineral-rich clay. A terra firme trail near the second lick explores never-flooded forest. Lunch at Sani Lodge precedes an afternoon motorized-pirogue birding run on the white-water Napo, seeking riverine species. The return follows blackwater channels back to Sani Lodge, where dinner closes the day.

Breakfast at Sani Lodge precedes a lagoon crossing and a short forest walk to the Amazon Canopy Tower, perched roughly 35 m up a Kapok tree, where the unobstructed view brings high-flying canopy birds within easier reach. Mid-morning turns to a long Varzea Walk through seasonally flooded forest, an ecosystem with avifauna distinct from terra firme. A late-afternoon trail weaves between varzea and terra firme, packing variety into a short distance. After dinner, a torchlight night paddle searches dark channels for black caimans and nocturnal wildlife.

The morning is spent exploring the Napo River vegetation islands, self-contained ecosystems that develop independently and, depending on age, height and vegetation cover, support specialized species. The group visits several islands of differing structure. After returning during the hottest hours, the final outing is decided with your guide, whether late-day canopy observation from the tower, a terra firme or varzea trail, or paddling the lagoon edges and blackwater channels. Dinner at Sani Lodge precedes a last night walk along the trails for nocturnal avifauna.

A dawn paddle carries the canoes back out through the blackwater channels toward the Napo River, then a motorized pirogue continues upstream past the national park limit, reaching Coca around midday. A boxed lunch covers the journey before the flight from Coca to Quito lifts out of the Amazon basin and across the Andes. On arrival, a transfer with French-speaking assistance leads to La Casona de la Ronda Boutique Hotel in the old town. Dinner is not included, leaving the evening free among Quito's colonial streets.

A guided walk through Colonial and Historic Quito reveals republican history, cultural mestizaje, ancient quarters and colonial culture, passing the Plaza de la Independencia and Plaza Santo Domingo. The story recalls Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland arriving in early January 1802, making Quito their base for exploring the Andes. After breakfast, an early afternoon transfer reaches Quito Airport, where the journey ends and you are dropped off for your flight home.