26 Jan 2026 - 31 Jan 2026 (6 days)
USD3,395 - Spaces Available
Tour Leader: Lev Frid
Tour price (Per person): USD3,395 * GBP2,712 * EUR3,263 * AUD5,225
Single Supplement: USD800 * GBP639 * EUR769 * AUD1,231
Flight costs: USD320 * GBP256 * EUR308 * AUD492
Can be linked with: Ecuador - Southern Endemics 2026
Flight costs (Linked Tour): USD110 * GBP88 * EUR106 * AUD169
This extension takes us to a very remote Ecuadorian location - the little-visited Kapawi Ecolodge situated on the remote Rio Kapahuari. Boasting a bird list of over 450 species within walking distance of the lodge itself, it’s no wonder that this humble Achuar indigenous community project has caught our attention. This tour offers prime Amazon birding with targets including Horned Screamer, Orinoco Goose, Red-fan Parrot, Rufous and Long-tailed Potoo, Rufous-headed Woodpecker, Cinnamon Neopipo, Black-necked Red Cotinga, Black Bushbird, Black-throated, Lunulated, Hairy-crested and White-plumed Antbird, Ochre-striped Antpitta, and Rio Suno and Ancient Antwrens.
By the end of our stay, we will all know much more about the rainforest and the fabulous Achuar people. The warm hospitality, good food and unique location supply an amazing experience to share with our loved ones upon our return. Join us for this one-of-a-kind tour into the true wilds of the Ecuadorian Amazon!
Salvin’s Curassow; Spix’s Guan; Blue-throated Piping Guan; Ochre-striped Antpitta; Red-and-green, Scarlet & Blue-and-yellow Macaws; Black-bellied Cuckoo; Red-necked, Chestnut & Cream-colored Woodpeckers; Pavonine Quetzal; White-eared, Yellow-billed & Great Jacamars; Collared, Spotted & White-chested Puffbirds; Brown Nunlet; Citron-bellied Attila; Orange-fronted Plushcrown; Chestnut-winged Hookbill; Duida & Elegant Woodcreepers; White-eyed, Zimmer’s & Johannes's Tody-Tyrants; Double-banded Pygmy Tyrant; Short-billed Leaftosser; Cinereous Mourner; Plum-throated & Purple-throated Cotingas; Rusty-belted Tapaculo; Fulvous & Pearly Antshrikes; Black Bushbird; Yellow-browed, White-plumed, Lunulated & Banded Antbirds; Reddish-winged Bare-eye; Ancient, Dugand’s & Chestnut-shouldered Antwrens; Orinoco Goose; Black-striped Sparrow; Horned Screamer; Harpy & Crested Eagles (rare); Grey-winged Trumpeter (rare); Nocturnal Curassow (rare); Ocellated Poorwill; Great, Long-tailed, & Rufous Potoos; Crested, Spectacled & Black-banded Owls; Tawny-bellied Screech Owl.
Colombian Red Howler; Spix’s Night Monkey; Red-bellied Titi Monkey; Equatorial Saki; White-fronted Capuchin; Common Squirrel Monkey; Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth
Amazon terrafirme forest, Amazon varzea forest, Amazon riparian habitat
Hot & humid
8 with 1 Rockjumper leader
Moderate to brisk paced tour suited for those in good health with reasonable level of fitness. Not suited for anyone with mobility challenges or serious medical conditions.
Comfortable
Moderate, several difficult forest skulkers.
Worthwhile to good. Typical rain forest conditions
This was the second time I have traveled with Dusan Brinkhuizen (the first time was in Papua New Guinea in 2018). I would go with him anywhere. His expert knowledge of the birds and places, his skill at making sure that everyone gets on the birds, his patience and kindness, and his warm and engaging personality make him a perfect guide. I really hope I have a chance to tour with him again.
I was particularly impressed by Dušan Brinkhuizen. His knowledge of Ecuadorian birds, both visual and auditory, was amazing. He showed an unflagging energy and was sensitive to the myriad of special interests of our participants.
Dušan was an excellent bird guide and a good tour guide.
I had a great time on the two Ecuador tours. I have been wanting to bird with Lev Frid since I viewed his webinar on Mexico, and he was every bit as fun and as good a guide as I thought that he would be. Lev's cheerful energy and care for his tour members were always evident, and his bird finding and identifying skills were superb. He worked hard to make sure that everyone was able to see the birds whenever possible, and he dealt with the varying experience levels of the various tour members very well. The list of tour members changed from tour to tour, with a wide range of ages, birding agendas, and personalities. Lev took it all in stride and provided what I considered to be an excellent experience for all. He worked particularly well with the local guides, with whom he shared friendship and respect, and his ability in speaking Spanish was an excellent asset. The local guides were all excellent, and worked hard to give us the best birding experience possible. Our driver kept us safe on the road and got us where we needed to go. The lodges were all great, with comfortable accommodations and excellent food. I picked up several birds that I had missed on an earlier tour through the area, and got a good look at a Mountain Tapir, as a rare bonus mammal. All in all, it was an excellent trip, and I look forward to future trips with Rockjumper.
[To Dušan Brinkhuizen] Truly, it was the very best birding trip I have ever been on, including several other Rockjumper trips which have all been great. As I think back on it, I can only marvel at your amazing ability to hear and identify the "chips" and "tsits" of birds calling or singing from deep in the understorey or high in the canopy of mature cloud forest while walking with a noisy group of folks or, even more unbelievable, from a moving vehicle. And if this wasn't amazing enough, you would then expertly call the desired individual bird into view and, with incredible calm and patience, succeed in making sure that everyone of us on the tour got a crippling look (and maybe even a spectacular photo) of the target bird -- that as often as not -- was not only beautiful but also both rare and furtive. And to further blow our minds, you often would pull out your vegetation clippers and create a setting and stage on which the bird would perform for us -- even sometimes, like some magician, telling us on which perch it would sit!! As a measure of your expertise as a trip leader, let me tell you that on the two back-to-back trips with you I "got" 110 life birds (101 seen and 9 heard) and only missed 1 species that would have been a life bird for me (Blue-mantled Thornbill). Never on any trip before in my life had I experienced such a high rate of success!! But above and beyond all of the uncanny skill and expertise that you exhibited, was the kindness, friendship, and humanity that you showed to each us. For this I am so very grateful. Thank you!!! Moreover, I'm sure everyone on the trip felt this way and I'm sure it created a safe and happy feeling among all of us that made the trip even more enjoyable. I truly hope that I can go with you on another trip sometime. And finally thank you also for the wonderfully detailed and beautifully illustrated trip report you sent. I remain amazed at how you could remember so clearly all the details of the trip.
Ecuador - Northern: Ultimate Amazon I 2024 - April 2024
Ecuador - Northern: Eastern Andes I 2024 - February 2024
Ecuador - Northern: Choco Cloud Forest I 2024 - February 2024
Ecuador - Northern: Eastern Andes II 2023 - November 2023
Ecuador - Northern: Choco Cloud Forest II 2023 - October 2023
Ecuador - Northern: Eastern Andes I 2023 - February 2023
Ecuador - Northern: Choco Cloud Forest I 2023 - February 2023
Ecuador - Southern Endemics 2023 - January 2023
Ecuador - Pacific Coast Extension 2023 - January 2023
Ecuador - Northern: Ultimate Amazon II 2022 - November 2022
Ecuador - Northern: Eastern Andes II 2022 - November 2022
Ecuador - Northern: Choco Cloud Forest II 2022 - November 2022
Ecuador - Rare Bird Club 2022 - October 2022
Ecuador - Northern: Ultimate Amazon I 2022 - April 2022
Ecuador - Northern: Eastern Andes I 2022 - April 2022
Ecuador - Northern: Choco Cloud Forest I 2022 - March 2022
Ecuador - Northern: Ultimate Amazon III 2022 - February 2022
Ecuador - Northern: Eastern Andes III 2022 - February 2022
Ecuador - Northern: Choco Cloud Forest III 2022 - February 2022