Day 14 - Bellavista Cloud Forest - Day 1
We had an early, 6.15 pick up to take us to the Bellavista Lodge high up in the cloud forest
80km North West of Quito. It is a conservation and bird watching lodge at an altitude of 2000m.
The traffic in Quito was already heavy. There were a lot of school buses on the roads so they must start school early. Traffic police were controlling the junctions. We drove through the new town area and saw a lot of parks and open spaces. We picked up another couple from a hotel in this area. They were young biologists from the USA. On the way we passed the monument marking the equator and then on through some spectacular Andean scenery to the Bella Vista Lodge in the Cloud Forest.
On arrival we were shown to our room for the night which is almost a tree house. It is basic but comfortable with panoramic windows and humming birds and other exotic birds continually flying around.
At the hiking meeting place there are 3 feeders which continually attract various species of humming bird and some other birds as well.
We had breakfast at the lodge and were told that our first hike would be at 9.00. Our morning tour guide, Carlos, took us on a 3.5 hour hike through the cloud forest. We climbed up high into the mountains and reached a ridge and walked along that before descending down to the track leading to the lodge. It rained very heavily throughout (well it is the cloud forest) and we were soaked through at the end despite wearing waterproof coats and trousers. Fortunately they have driers so we were able to dry out a bit. On the walk we saw a few birds including a Toucan, lots of different trees and flowers and a VERY large overground worm which we were told was a juvenile. The adults are apparently much bigger. When we first saw it we thought it was a snake.
We returned to the lodge and had lunch and arranged to meet Freddie, our guide for the next planned hike at 3.00 . It was still raining heavily so instead of another hike we sat watching the hummingbirds and he was able to give us a lot of information about them. We also saw squirrels and other birds. The highlight of the afternoon was when the feeders ran out of food. He took them away from the trees and brought back a small red bowl with feeding solution in. We took it in turns to hold this bowl and the hummingbirds came to feed from our hands. This was quite an experience as you could hear their wings beating (60 times a second) and could see their little long tongues feeding. It was brilliant.
We met up for dinner at 7.00 and then had an early night ready for our pre breakfast hike at 6.30 the next morning. It was still raining when we went to bed so hoping it will stop overnight.
80km North West of Quito. It is a conservation and bird watching lodge at an altitude of 2000m.
The traffic in Quito was already heavy. There were a lot of school buses on the roads so they must start school early. Traffic police were controlling the junctions. We drove through the new town area and saw a lot of parks and open spaces. We picked up another couple from a hotel in this area. They were young biologists from the USA. On the way we passed the monument marking the equator and then on through some spectacular Andean scenery to the Bella Vista Lodge in the Cloud Forest.
On arrival we were shown to our room for the night which is almost a tree house. It is basic but comfortable with panoramic windows and humming birds and other exotic birds continually flying around.
At the hiking meeting place there are 3 feeders which continually attract various species of humming bird and some other birds as well.
We had breakfast at the lodge and were told that our first hike would be at 9.00. Our morning tour guide, Carlos, took us on a 3.5 hour hike through the cloud forest. We climbed up high into the mountains and reached a ridge and walked along that before descending down to the track leading to the lodge. It rained very heavily throughout (well it is the cloud forest) and we were soaked through at the end despite wearing waterproof coats and trousers. Fortunately they have driers so we were able to dry out a bit. On the walk we saw a few birds including a Toucan, lots of different trees and flowers and a VERY large overground worm which we were told was a juvenile. The adults are apparently much bigger. When we first saw it we thought it was a snake.
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| Overground worm (with Pauls foot to show how big it was) |
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| Toucan |
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| Rainforest flower called a Goldfish flower. |
We returned to the lodge and had lunch and arranged to meet Freddie, our guide for the next planned hike at 3.00 . It was still raining heavily so instead of another hike we sat watching the hummingbirds and he was able to give us a lot of information about them. We also saw squirrels and other birds. The highlight of the afternoon was when the feeders ran out of food. He took them away from the trees and brought back a small red bowl with feeding solution in. We took it in turns to hold this bowl and the hummingbirds came to feed from our hands. This was quite an experience as you could hear their wings beating (60 times a second) and could see their little long tongues feeding. It was brilliant.
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| Humming birds |
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| Humming birds |
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| Humming bird |
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| Humming bird |
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| Feeding the humming birds |
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| Feeding the humming birds |
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| Squirrel |
We met up for dinner at 7.00 and then had an early night ready for our pre breakfast hike at 6.30 the next morning. It was still raining when we went to bed so hoping it will stop overnight.
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