Tour Leader: Carlos Bocos
Pricing notes : *Prices are estimated and dates may change*
Tour price (Per person): USD3,300 * GBP2,626 * EUR3,164 * ZAR60,450
Colombia’s vast expanse of Amazonian rainforest habitat is best accessed via the town of Mitu. The town itself is a fabulous base to work from, with comfortable hotel accommodations in town and some of the most enjoyable local guides anywhere. The birding sites are easy to access, and the birds are plentiful, with many near endemics, white sand specialists, terra firme specialists and several scarce species readily seen.
Plum-throated, Spangled & Pompadour Cotingas; Guianan Cock-of-the-rock; Scarlet-shouldered Parrotlet; Amazonian Umbrellabird; Fiery Topaz; Pavonine Quetzal; Brown-banded, Bronzy & Paradise Jacamars; Black-bellied Thorntail; Rufous-throated & White-chinned Sapphires; Green-tailed Goldenthroat; Crested Eagle; Ornate Hawk-Eagle; White-chinned Woodcreeper; Rufous-tailed Xenops; Spot-backed Antwren; Imerri Warbling Antbird; Cinnamon Neopipo; Pale-bellied Mourner; Collared Gnatwren; Red-billed Ground Cuckoo (rare - thought more sightings are known from Mitu than anywhere else in the world); Tawny-tufted Toucanet; Orinoco Piculet; Bar-bellied Woodcreeper; Blackish-grey & Pearly Antshrikes; 10 species of Antwren including Cherrie’s & Yellow-throated; Black Bushbird; 17 species of Antbird including Black-chinned, Black-headed, Grey-bellied, White-plumed & Chestnut-crested; Saffron-crested Tyrant-Manakin; Black, Yellow-crested & Striolated Manakins; Brown-headed Greenlet; Azure-naped Jay; White-bellied Dacnis; White-naped Seedeater; Plumbeous Euphonia.
white sand forest and terra firme forest
warm and humid
8 with 1 Rockjumper Leader
Moderate to difficult. Endemic and target focussed trip. Not suitable for dedicated photographers; inexperienced birders; or anyone with mobility or health challenges. Tour pace is fast. Our Mega tours are very fast-paced birding adventures designed for the dedicated lister and serious birder. The focus of the tour is to see as many of the endemics and area specials as possible in our given time. In order to cover the necessary route to maximise the species list we tend to spend a single night at most sites and travel large distances. There is very little down time aside from that spent driving from one site to the next. These tours are not suitable for dedicated or avid photographers; inexperienced or new birders; as well as anyone with serious mobility or health challenges.
Comfortable hotel
Challenging. Several skulkers and low-density targets that require repeated efforts. Many species that require patience, persistence & repeat attempts.
250+
Reasonable to good. Typical forest lighting difficulties.
"Tuomas was very knowledgeable, personable, and savvy. He did an excellent job of balancing hard core birding with the needs of the group. The accommodations and food were good throughout and the transportation was excellent! This was an adventurous, fun, and challenging trip and I very much enjoyed it. Roger, the local guide, was also very good. Thank you!"
Forrest Rowland was superb as usual. Both his birding skills and people skills are extraordinary.
Dusan is an excellent guide (best ears in the business!) as well as a wonderful person to share this long of an adventure. He’s very concerned for everyone’s health, safety and enjoyment of the birding.
From the several members of the office staff to the actual tour itself, I have nothing but high praise for my Rockjumper experience. This was my first tour with Rockjumper, but I hope it won't be my last. Alison and Sarah were tremendously helpful. Rob Williams is as good a leader as I have ever experienced. He not only knows the birds, but he made sure that we all got to see them, showing patience way beyond what I thought necessary. When one of our participants lost his passport, Rob bent over backwards to help this hapless person, never complaining while doing so. Rob always told us what the plan was for the next day. When Plan A didn't pan out, he had Plan B ready. If something went askew, he handled it with aplomb, always keeping his sense of humour. Did I mention he showed us wonderful birds? Oh, we saw some beautiful ones!
First of all, Forrest Rowland's profound knowledge of the full range of bird identification traits, songs and calls, habitat preferences and behavioural detail was indispensable to our ability to view, hear, and understand what we were looking for/at. Even more so, his knowledge and ability to effectively convey such information in a timely and readily comprehensible manner was an essential component of our ability to get on birds effectively. Plus his expertise and experience did not stop with the bird life. Secondly, he was an amazing leader in keeping a diverse group of participants focused on tasks at hand and committed to an inclusive "team" dynamic, not an easy feat! His very personable and easy going style kept everyone engaged and appreciating contributions from the whole group... and no one ever appeared isolated. Lastly, and also crucial to an effective journey of this type, Forrest was always on top of tour logistics and management, which are extremely complex and sometimes change with little notice (e.g. flights being cancelled). ln part this was due to his own experience travelling within Colombia, building upon the wonderful network of supporting "staff/contributors", and he was always able to easily provide next step details, rationales, and alternatives to the group.
Colombia - Perijá & Santa Marta Endemics - Tailormade 2024 - September 2024
Colombia - Highlights 2024 - July 2024
Colombia - Highlights (ECU replacement) 2024 - January 2024
Colombia - Northern Andes: Central Andes 2023 - October 2023
Colombia - Northern Andes: Medellin & surrounds 2023 - October 2023
Colombia - Northern Andes: Bogota & surrounds 2023 - October 2023
Colombia - Northern Andes: Santa Marta 2023 - September 2023
Colombia - Santa Marta Extension I 2023 - August 2023
Colombia - Highlights 2023 - August 2023
Colombia - Santa Marta Extension II 2022 - December 2022
Colombia - Northern Andes: Western & Central Andes 2022 - November 2022
Colombia - Northern Andes: Medellin & Magdalena Valley 2022 - November 2022
Colombia - Northern Andes: Bogota & surrounds 2022 - November 2022
Colombia - Highlights 2022 - September 2022
Colombia - Mega Birding Tour II 2021 - November 2021
Colombia - Mega Birding Tour I 2020 - January 2020
Colombia - Highlights 2019 - November 2019
Colombia - Santa Marta Extension 2019 - November 2019
Colombia - Perijá & Santa Marta Endemics (SGT) 2019 - October 2019