Chocó lowlands - San Cipriano

(4) days(s)

The small village of San Cipriano is located close to the Buenaventura port, the main port of the country. This village is one of the main weekends get away for the people in Cali, who come mainly to enjoy its pristines rivers and ponds and also, because getting to San Cipriano is an adventure of its own duet to the only way to reach it is through the famous Brujitas, a rail cart powered by a motorcycle that covers 6km of old rail tracks in about 20min. The area is covered with trails in some pristine Chocó lowland rainforest as well as some secondary forest which give us chances not only for the rare forest dwellers but also for more common and widespread open-areas species. This place offers outstanding biodiversity, not only for birders, but for herp lovers too with some sought-after species like Yellow-bellied Poison Dart-Frog, “Niche” Poison Dart-Frog, Condoto Stubfoot Toad and Imbabura Tree-Frog.

Being at the heart of the Chocó lowlands, one of the most humid and rainiest places on earth, it is very likely that we encounter some bad weather eventually, which of course, will not stop us from birding.

Animals you might see on this tour

Sapayoa

Five-colored Barbet

Itinerary

Day 1. Arrival to Cali

Late afternoon arrival to the city of Cali where we will spend the night.

Day 2. Journey to San Cipriano reserve

Very early in the morning we take our breakfast to go and head to the village of Zabaletas where we will take our “Brujitas” that will take us to San Cipriano. The birding in San Cipriano is quite easy because most of it is done on a flat road, where we will be looking for quite a few species such as the near endemic Five-colored Barbet, the enigmatic Sapayoa. ,Black-tipped Cotinga, Stub-tailed Antbird, Baudo Guan, Blue-whiskered Tanager, Scarlet-browed Tanager, Saffron-headed and Rose-faced Parrot, Ocellated Antbird, Black-striped Woodcreeper, Black-breasted Puffbird, Pied Puffbird, Lanceolated Monklet, Semiplumbeous Hawk, Pallid Dove, Dusky Pigeon, Thicket Antpitta and many more.

At night, we will be searching for the near-endemic Choco Poorwill and other fantastic night birds such as Choco Screech-Owl, Crested Owl and Mottled Owl.

Night at San Cipriano

Day 3. San Cipriano full day

Full day at the reserve, searching for the species listed above and dedicating some time to skulking critters such as Berlepch’s Tinamou, Choco Tinamou, Tawny-faced Quail, Sapayoa and Thicket Antpitta.

Night at San Cipriano