Suggested trips

SUGGESTED FIRST BOLIVIAN TRIP

Day 1: Arrival in Santa Cruz. One can birdwatch the Bolivian natural savannah habitat right at the Viru-viru airport. After lunch visit the Santa Cruz Botanical Gardens.

Day 2: In the morning visit the Lomas de Arena Park.  As you are leaving the park be sure to stop in at the Armonía Conservation Centre to purchase your Bolivian Bird List, T-shirts, and Armonía bird conservation membership. In the afternoon travel with tourism agency help (we suggest birdbolivia@unete.com.bo) to search for Foothill forest birds at Los Volcanes. Night in Los Volcanes.

Day 3 : Day at Los Volcanes.

Day 4 : Birdwatching Los Volcanes for the morning. Afternoon up the Andes in either rental car or with tourism agency help. Have lunch at Latin Café in Samaipata, then continue driving to the dry Andean valley habitat of the Red-fronted Macaw Lodge.

Day 5 : Day at Red-fronted Macaw Lodge. The habitat is desert like- with less bird diversity in the forest, but the area and scenery is interesting enough to stay for more days.

Day 6 : Drive back to Santa Cruz. Late afternoon or night flight to Cochabamba. Night in Cochabamba: With rental car, bird down the Yungas of Cochabamba passing Tablas Monte Road, Miguelito, and Lower Chapare Road. Night in Hotel El Puente.

Day 7 : With rental car, bird down the Yungas of Cochabamba passing Tablas Monte Road, Miguelito, and Lower Chapare Road. Night in Hotel El Puente.

Day 8 : Birding around Hotel El Puente grounds and visiting the Oilbird caves and Cock-of-the-Rock lek at Carrasco National Park Road. Night in Hotel El Puente.

Day 9 : Day birding back up the Andes. Night in Cochabamba: You cannot miss the San Miguel Polylepis forest best in the morning- but not so early- leaving Cochabamba at 7 am is fine. Lake Alalay in the afternoon to see Andean aquatic birds. Late afternoon flight to La Paz. Night in La Paz: In rental car travel down the Yungas road stopping at La Cumbre, Upper Coroico Road, and Choquetanga Valley. From here, take the South Yungas Road down to Apa-apa reserve. Be sure to stop at a few river crossings to look for Torrent Duck and White-capped Dipper. Night in Apa-apa.

Day 10 : You cannot miss the San Miguel Polylepis forest best in the morning- but not so early- leaving Cochabamba at 7 am is fine. Lake Alalay in the afternoon to see Andean aquatic birds. Late afternoon flight to La Paz. Night in La Paz ( I like Hostel Republica- not too pricey- arrange rental car- I prefer IMBEX rental cars who allow me to leave the car at the airport). Tomorrow’s road is a bit treacherous- you might want to think about hiring a driver with the rental car company- makes for a more pleasant drive- and you can have him pick you up after birdwatching down the road.

Day 11: In rental car travel down the Yungas road stopping at La Cumbre, Upper Coroico Road, and Choquetanga Valley. From here, take the South Yungas Road down to Apa-apa reserve. Be sure to stop at a few river crossings to look for Torrent Duck and White-capped Dipper. Night in Apa-apa.

Day 12: Day birding at Apa apa. You could easily spend an extra day at this site, with a forest that offers many birds.

Day 13: Early morning birding. In the afternoon visit Lake Titicaca. Night in La Paz: Morning shopping in La Paz tourist street. Flight to Rurrenebaque. Arrange for a vehicle rental with driver to Santa Rosa: You could end the trip with a few days at the comfortable Selvablue lodge in the Beni savanna and Cerrado habitat. From La Paz: You could end the trip here, catching a return flight out of La Paz  Day 16 before leaving the Santa Cruz: Day birdwatching the Beni flooded savannas. Night in cheap hotel in Santa Rosa. You could spend two nights here and travel further north along the road spending the day birdwatching. Ask Birdbolivia@birdbolivia.com about possibilities of seeing Blue-throated Macaw here.

Day 14: Morning shopping in La Paz tourist street. Flight to Rurrenebaque. Arrange for a vehicle rental with driver to Santa Rosa. Night in Rurrenebaque.

Day 14 (Option 1): You could end the trip with a few days at the comfortable Selvablue lodge in the Beni savanna and Cerrado habitat. From La Paz you would catch a flight to Trinidad, and from there a small plane flight to the Selvablue lodge.

Day 14 (Option 2): You could end the trip here, catching a return flight out of La Paz. If you are going to do this, I recommend adding  Day 16 before leaving the Santa Cruz area.

Day 15: Day birdwatching the Beni flooded savannas. Night in cheap hotel in Santa Rosa. You could spend two nights here and travel further north along the road spending the day birdwatching. Ask Birdbolivia@birdbolivia.com about possibilities of seeing Blue-throated Macaw here.

Day 16: Return birdwatching Beni Flooded savannas. Catch late afternoon flight to Santa CruzInternational flight out of Santa Cruz or La Paz hub to the Southern-Horned Curassow Lodge, and change Day 13 in the Rurrenebaque hub to Wattled Curassow Lodge.

Day 17:International flight out of Santa Cruz.

You could shorten this trip by losing some of the days in the Yungas in either Cochabamba or La Paz, as you will see many of the same birds- but it is worth doing both if you have the time.

If you have strong feelings for Curassows, you could change Day 1 in the Santa Cruz hub to the Southern-Horned Curassow Lodge, and change Day 13 in the Rurrenebaque hub to Wattled Curassow Lodge.

OTHER POSSIBLE TRIPS

A great trip to Bolivia would be to contrast the habitat types with the lodges that are available. I strongly recommend a trip that would begin visiting the Selvablue lodge for 5 to 7 days, then visit a contrasting site like the Red-fronted Macaw lodge up in the dry Andes- or the Apa apa lodge in the moist Andes.  

Another popular option is to separate Bolivian visits into the highlands and the lowlands, Making the first visit to areas around the hubs of Cochabamba and La Paz and Rurrenabaque. You can expand on the suggested trip by spending more time in sites like Red-fronted Macaw lodge, Hotel El Puente, and Apa apa. I warn you now, Bolivia is contagious- you will want to come back, so don't do everything on the first trip.

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Designing your own Bolivian Birdwatching trip

For a Bolivia birding tour one must decide the emphasis of the tour, usually between three factors, 1) bird numbers, 2) endemics, & 3) comfort.  Usually people try to arrange a compromise between the three. It is best if you or your group knows where they would like to place an emphasis.

Many groups wish to create a Bolivia bird tour that is different from existing tours. But in Bolivia, the reality is that there are certain physical limitations to any "far from the broken path" tour. The most obvious is altitude sickness, which can be a three-day horrible illness if unconditioned. As a consequence it is common to start in Santa Cruz, rest up after the long flight, then Cochabamba (2500m) where one can adjust a little through two days with the 6 endemics (Bolivian Blackbird, Cochabamba Mountain-Finch, Bolivian Warbling Finch, Wedge-tailed Hillstar, Bolivian Earthcreeper, and I include Rufous-bellied Saltator as a range-restricted endemic) around the dry valleys of Cochabamba, and then up to La Paz (3600m) for the Corioco road (yungas), Lake Titicaca, Puna and altiplano birds. The Santa Cruz-Cochabamba- La Paz route is the only present possibility for adjusting to the altitude considering Bolivian infrastructure (paved roads, frequent flights, decent hotels, etc.).

Most Bolivian endemics (believed to be 19 now) are found in the highlands around Cochabamba  Though if one is less interested in endemics and more in bird numbers, than La Paz could be skipped for a different habitat (the Yungas and dry valleys of Cochabamba and La Paz  A bird trip that is concerned about endemics usually does not miss the Red-fronted Macaw lodge and the Beni flooded Savannas for the Blue-throated Macaw. The town of Rurrenabaque has an area of great pampas habitat along the road to Santa Rosa and on the Yacuma River.  With a budding backpacker tourism infrastructure, a personalized birding tour of the pampas area here can be designed and implemented quite cheaply.

Thus, in three weeks the usual, sensible route is Santa Cruz (Dry Forest and open-grasslands flooded pampas in the city, and dry forest, tropical forest and high Andes jumping off point), Cochabamba (Andean Dry Valley, Puna, Andean Cloud forest, Montane, Hill and Poor Amazonian Forest), La Paz (Same as Cochabamba with Lago Titicaca) and Rurrenabaque (Tropical Forest, Beni Flooded Grasslands- the Selvablue lodge offers Tropical forest, Beni Flooded Savannas and the rare Cerrado habitat in one area).

This typical trip misses good Cerrado, Chaco Habitat, Pantanal, and Northern Bolivian Amazonian Forest, but each is often seen as too far off the beaten path and 50% of the birds can be seen elsewhere during the trip.

Your emphasis on the birding factors will decide your trip. A big list is approached best by zooming through as many habitats as possible, two days in each, and visiting repeated habitats in different areas. Endemic birding means visiting the right spots and investing time and searching. Pleasant Birding, I think of as days in a forest lodge, camping on Montane forest edge, driving out to poorly known areas, maybe even taking in some local culture like Andean Music, Museums and festivals. Of course all can be combined for a great trip.

The dry season is between June and Sept. This is important for wet habitats especially Pampas (where many dirt (read mud) roads are closed during the rainy season), forest (lost hours of good birding sitting in a tent, lodge ....), Montane forest ( where it is always raining anyway). Flights are pretty cheap in Bolivia between main cities and daily, saving a lot of driving time and they often leave midday. Flights to Rurrenabaque are not as dependable, and will not happen in rainy conditions (read a lot of waiting). A friend of mine birded the Dry valleys of Cochabamba for an entire day in a taxi that cost 20 USD. A rental car would cost 50-80 USD, and that would not include a chauffeur who can catch up to you when you are ready. This option is also possible with a group and a few taxis. Taxi prices are based on the Bolivian market, whereas car rental prices are based on rich tourist prices. We are presently looking into the possibility of taxi’s over rentals. Possible problems are space, the necessity for a 4x4, and the daily and distance limitations, but it is looking like a taxi is a better option for close to city birding. 4x4 rental is anywhere from 50 USD for a Suzuki box, to 70-100 USD for the Toyota Landcruisers, with 100 km free daily (but I have learned you can always talk them higher).

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