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Bolivia

Carefully-crafted itinerary covering the endemics of Bolivia including Blue-throated Macaw, Wedge-tailed Hillstar, Masked Antpitta, plus the newly-described Inti Tanager and Palkachupa Cotinga on the extension!

Apolo and Palkachupa Cotinga Extension

Next dates

16 September - 7 October 2025

Tour length: 22 days

Group size limit: 7

Leaders:

Daniel Lopez-Velasco and a local leader

Tour full

Apolo and Palkachupa Cotinga Extension

7-13 October 2025

Tour length: 7 days

Group size limit: 7

Leaders:

Daniel Lopez-Velasco and a local leader

Tour full

1-22 October 2026 (TBC)

Tour length: 22 days

Group size limit: 7

Leaders:

Chris Venetz and a local leader

Spaces available

Apolo and Palkachupa Cotinga Extension

22-28 October 2026

Tour length: 7 days

Group size limit: 7

Leaders:

Chris Venetz and a local leader

Spaces available

Day 1: The tour starts this evening with arrivals into Santa Cruz International Airport (VVI), where we will overnight.

Day 2: We will spend our first morning birding at nearby Lomas de Arena, located in the South-east side of Santa Cruz. This regional park is part of the northern border of Chaco and protects some spectacular sand dunes and grassy savannas. Good birds include Red-winged Tinamou (more often heard than seen), White-bellied Nothura and range-restricted Bolivian Slaty Antshrike, as well as more widespread species such as Chaco Puffbird, Blue-crowned and Yellow-chevroned Parakeets, Plain Tyrannulet, Chotoy Spinetail, White-banded Mockingbird and sometimes Red-legged Seriema just to name a few. We will then take a midday flight to Riberalda where we will stay for the next two nights. We may have some time in the late afternoon for some first explorations in the area.

Day 3: Our prime reason to visit this remote corner of the country is to look for the highly localized Masked Antpitta, an endemic species restricted to typical gallery forests and riverine habitats around Riberalda. Interestingly, the Riberalta area has a wide range of habitats ranging from dry Cerrado habitats to more humid Amazonian forests. Time permitting, we will explore some of these habitats and there will certainly be a lot of new birds to be seen. There is a nice list of key birds with regular sightings in the area such as Phesant Cuckoo, Purus Jacamar, Ocellated Crake, Flammulated Pygmy-Tyrant and White-bellied Seedeater

Day 4: We will spend the morning birding some dry Cerrado habitats, where typical birds like White-eared Puffbird, Rufous-sided Scrub Tyrant and White-rumped Tanager among many others are expected to be found. We will then take an afternoon flight to Trinidad where we will spend the next two nights.

Day 5-6: We will have a full day and most of the next day to explore the bird-rich plains of the Lianos de los Moxos in the province of Beni. We will start our birding in Loreto to look for another very rare species, the critically endangered Blue-throated Macaw, once thought to be extinct in the wild and rediscovered few years ago in this area. Endemic to the lowland of the Beni region in Bolivia, there could be less than 100 individuals remaining in the wild, and here we have a good chance to see this incredible bird. We might find other species of parrots, including Blue-and-yellow, Red-and-green, Golden-collared and Chestnut-fronted Macaws, Turquoise-fronted Amazon, Yellow-chevroned, Peach-fronted and Dusky-headed Parakeets. In the nearby gallery forests, we will also look for some other key species, including the endemic and tricky Unicolored Thrush, restricted to a small range of the floodplain forest of the Río Mamoré, as well as the near-endemic Fawn-breasted Wren, the local form of Plain Softail (potentially a future split), the local race of Velvet-fronted Grackle, Spix’s Guan, Plumbeous Ibis, the range-restricted Orinoco Goose, Hudson’s Black Tyrant, Long-tailed Reed Finch, Sulphur-bellied Tyrant-Manakin, Buff-bellied Hermit, Pale-crested Woodpecker, Plain Inezia, Screaming Cowbird and with luck, Razor-billed Curassow. This department of Bolivia is one of South America’s most bird-rich areas, where the wide watery plains should allow to amass a great list of more widespread species during our short visit here. On day 5), we will take a flight to Santa Cruz where we will overnight.

Day 7: Today we will head early to Los Volcanes and spend the full day birding the foothill forests adjacent to the Amboro National Park. Our base will be at the famous Los Volcanes Refugio, surrounded by impressive red cliffs and certainly one of the most spectacularly located birding lodge in the Andes. We will focus on a several key species here, including Slaty Gnateater, the near-endemic Bolivian Recurvebill (sometimes hard to find), Bolivian (or Bolivian White-crowned) Tapaculo, as well as Yungas Manakin, Yungas Dove, Yungas Manakin, Black-banded Woodcreeper, Rufous-breasted Wood Quail, Grey-throated Leaftosser, Short-tailed Anthrush, Military Macaw, Western Fire-eye, Chestnut-backed Antshrike, Scalter’s and Buff-barred Tyrannulets, Ochre-cheeked Spinetail, White-bellied Pygmy-Tyrant, Grey (more often heard than seen), Brown and Black-capped Tinamou and White-throated Piping Guan. We will keep an eye for Blue-browed Tanager, which is hard to see anywhere, but here there are regular sightings. If we are lucky, we will also have a first chance to locate the range-restricted Yungas Pygmy Owl, while at night, we will go out and look for Cloud-forest Screech Owl, Rufescent Screech Owl and Band-bellied Owl.

Day 8: We will still spend the full morning birding the area of Los Volcanes looking for key species we might have missed the day before, and after midday we will head towards Samaipata where we will overnight. We will explore different sections of the region depending on the timing, crossing typical Andean picturesque valleys where we should amass several new birds of limited distribution such as Ochre-cheeked Spinetail, Black-and-chestnut and Black-capped Warbling Finches, Ocellated Piculet and Moss-backed Sparrow. We will keep an eye for other good birds like Giant Antshrike or the uncommon Dull-coloured Grassquit. Hummingbirds will also be much on evidence in the area, where Great-billed and Planato Hermits, White-vented, Sparkling and Lesser Violetears, Slender-tailed, Glittering-bellied Emerald, Fork-tailed Woodnymph, White-bellied Hummingbird, Black-throated Mango, Red-tailed Comet and perhaps the range-restricted Slender-billed Woodstar can be seen. Other more widespread species include Short-tailed Hawk, Green-cheeked and Blue-crowned Parakeets, Buff-browed Foliage-gleaner, Sooty-fronted Spinetail, Variable Antshrike, the Andean form of the Rufous-capped Antshrike (sometimes split as Marcapata Antshrike), White-crested (White-bellied) Tyrannulet, Ochre-faced Tody-Flycatcher, Rufous Casiornis, Rufous-bellied Thrush, Hooded Siskin, Blue-and-yellow Tanager, Saffron-billed Sparrow, Golden-billed Saltator and more.

Day 9: Early this morning we will head off Samaipata and make our way to Red-fronted Macaw Reserve along the Rio Misque, our base for the next night. We will make a stop at Quirusillas and bird around Laguna Esmeralda (and more stop on the road time permitting), in search for Tucuman Amazon and Red-faced Guan both restricted to this region and to northwest Argentina. There will be also a chance for the restricted-range Straw-backed Tanager, Slender-tailed Woodstar, Huayco Tinamou, Yungas Guan (usually more often seen further along the road), White-throated Antpitta, the tricky Dot-fronted Woodpecker, Pale-legged Warbler, White-browed Brushfinch, Spot-breasted Thornbird, Stripe-crowned Spinetail and Bolivian Tyrannulet. We shall be arriving at our lodge just in time to get to the cliff and look for Red-fronted Macaw, our main bird here. Other species of parrots may also join the fest, including Cliff, Mitred and Grey-hooded Parakeets, while other good stuff such as White-tipped Plantcutter, Andean Condor (often seen here up close), Grey-crested Finch, Bolivian Blackbird, Chaco Puffbird, Andean Swift, Southern Martin, Ultramarine Grosbeak, Greater Wagtail Tyrant can be found. In the evening we will go in search of Scissor-tailed Nightjar.

Day 10: Today we will spend the morning birding around the Red-fronted Macaw Reserve and then drive to Comarapa, where we will stay for the next two nights. We will make an important stop on the way to look for the rare Bolivian Earthcreeper, or if needed, for anything else we might have missed so far. We shall make another birding stop at the dry zone near to Comapara and look for more key birds such as Olive-crowned Crescentchest, Black-and-chestnut, Rufous-sided, Ringed and Bolivian Warbling Finches, Light-crowned Spinetail, Great Pampa Finch and Spot-breasted Thornbird.

Day 11: Today we will have predawn departure and start climbing up to the Siberia cloud forests. In contrast to the arid Comarapa and Tambo aeras, we will quickly see the change in habitat get into humid rainforests typically coverd by epiphytes! Our main targets here include the endemic Rufous-faced Antpitta, Trilling Tapaculo, near endemic Light-crowned Spinetail (here of the buff-crowned race), Bolivian Brushfinch, Blue-capped Puffleg, the near-endemic Buff-banded Tyrannulet and local races of Common Bush Tanager, Blue-winged Mountain Tanagers and Black-throated Thistletail. Other good birds may include Maroon-belted Chat-Tyrant, Rufous-bellied Bush Tyrant, Plumbeous Tyrant, Andean Slaty Thrush, White-eared Solitaire, Violet-throated Starfrontlet, Brown-capped and Spectacled Whitestarts, Barred Becard and more. Later during our descent to Comarapa, we will also search into bushes for the near-endemic Grey-bellied Flowerpiercer and other good stuff like Green-barred woodpecker, Rusty-vented Canastero and Rusty-browed Warbling Finch, and we may have some time for exploring the remaining time of the day into the drier zone around Comarapa and look for anything we might have missed earlier.

Day 12: Today is predominantly a long driving day as we will leave Comarapa early morning and head for Cochabamba, where we will stay for the next 4 nights. We will have little time to stop on the way to look for the superb Wedge-tailed Hillstar.

Day 13-14: We will spend two full days along the Chapare in search for more specialities, where the road is crossing through high altitude puna habitats and dropping again in a short distance to different forests stretch ranging from high untouched elfin to more temperate and subtropical forests and eventually, further away to the lowlands. We will start spending some time at a high pass and look for one of our major targets of the trip, the endemic Black-hooded Sunbeam. From there we will start getting down in the lookout for the nominate race of Black-throated Thistletail, Bolivian Tyrannulet, Bolivian Antpitta, Scaled Metaltail, Black-winged Parrot, Blue-banded toucanet, Hooded Mountain Tanager, Upland Antshrike, Yungas Tody-Tyrant, while other Andean goodies like Band-tailed and Barred Fruiteaters, Three-striped and Orange-browed Hemispingus, Streaked Tuftedcheek, Chestnut-crested Cotinga, White-collared Jay, Yungas Warbler, Pale-footed Swallow, Fulvous Wren, Slaty Finch, Barred Antthrush, Stripe-faced Wood Quail (difficult), Black-streaked Puffbird, Olivaceous Siskin, Golden-headed and Crested Quetzales, Versicolored Barbet, Olive-backed Woodcreeper, Black-eared Hemispingus, Unadorned Flycatcher, Lanceolated Monklet, Geoffroy’s Daggerbill, Andean Cock-of-the-rock are all possible in the area and we will devote much of our time here to search for them!

Day 15: Today we will start climbing the Quillacolla road starting in the northwest of Cochabamba and our ascension quickly take us at higher altitude with stunning views of towering cliffs and peaks (including Cerro Tunari at 5035m), and habitats start change to Polylepis trees. We will make a few stops on the road and we will give a particular attention for our main birds here, likewise the endemic Cochabamba Mountain Finch, Bolivian Warbling Finch, Rufous-bellied Mountain Tanager, Maquis Canastero, high altitude ssp of Olive-crowned Crescentchest, Brown-backed Mockingbird, Rock Earthcreeper. Other good species we may well see during our ascencion include Andean Tinamou, Streak-fronted Thronbird, Giant Hummingbird, Red-tailed Comet, Cinereous and Giant Conebills, Rufous-rumped Bush Tyrant, Puna Tapaculo, Red-crested Cotinga, Buff-breasted Earthcreeper, Tawny and the more abundant Brown-capped Tit-Spinetails. We will have another chance here for Wedge-tailed Hillstar and Yungas Pygmy Owl. Eventually we will reach the highest point were again more good birds should join the party: Andean Hillstar, Bright-rumped Yellow Finch, Black-billed Shrike Tyrant, Crested and Andean Ducks, Yellow-billed Pintail Andean Coot, Andean Gull, Andean Flicker, White-winged Diuca Finch, White-backed Stilt, Slender-billed Miner, Cordilleran Canastero and a large variety of Ground Tyrant are possible including Puna, Ochre-naped Spot-billed, Cinereous and Taczanowski’s. We will also keep an eye for more elusive species such as Darwin’s Nothura, Grey-breasted Seedsnipe and Torrent Duck, all possible today.

Day 16: Today we will head of Cochabamba and drive to Oruro where we will overnight. We will pass through puna habitat for a time and here we will stop to look for Ornate Tinamou, White-winged Cinclodes, Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetail, Cordilleran Canastero and Puna Yellow Finch. Birds expected to be seen on the different lakes are Crested Duck, Andean Geese, Yellow-billed Teal, Andean Avocet, Puna Plover, Silvery Grebe, Many-colored Rush-Tyrant, Wren-like Rushbird, Andean Lapwing, Andean Negrito, Plumbeous rail, James’s and Chilean Flamingos, Puna Ibis, Aplomado Falcon and more can be seen around the water.

Day 17: Today we will explore some different section of the lakes close to Oruro and afterwards drive to Quime where we will overnight.

Day 18: This morning we will get along the remote Inquisivi road in search for another mega target, the endangered and endemic Bolivian Spinetail only discovered 1993. Another good bird here is the local distinctive race of the Green-cheeked Parakeet (showing yellow-winged here), as well as Spot-winged Pigeon, Striped Woodpecker, Golden-rumped Euphonia, Rusty Flowerpiercer, Black-backed Grosbeak amongst others. Continuing our road to La Paz, we should have time for more stops in puna grasslands and upland bogs, searching anything we might have missed so far. Overnight at La Paz, the highest capital city on the planet.

Day 19-20: Today we will make our way towards the Coroico road for a two nights stay. We will have two full days to explore this marvelous broad. Once again, we will start exploring the high puna habitat around La Cumbre at 4600m and later start our way downhill along the old Coroico road or also namely the “death road”.  Starting from the higher elevations and on our way to lower sections we are expecting to find Andean Ibis, Buff-thighed Puffleg, Blue-mantled Thornbill, great Sappherwing, Glacier Finch, Rufous-bellied and Grey-breasted Seedsnipes, Black Siskin, restricted-range Sierra Finch, White-browed Conebill, White-fronted Ground-Tyrant, Giant Coot, Tawny Tit-Spinetail, Puna Tapaculo, Stripe-headed Antpitta, Scribble-tailed and Line-fronted Canasteros, possibly Ash-breasted Tit-Tyrant and more. We will then explore the area of Chuspipata at middle elevation, where we will look for more key species in the Yungas forests, the restricted-range Diademed Tapaculo and near-endemic Scimitar-winged Piha. As we keep dropping in altitudes, the temperate forest of this road often provide excellent birding as there are pristine forests stretch in every direction from the main road and more birds should be found such as Sickle-winged Guan, Chestnut-crested Cotinga, Plushcap, Yellow-billed Cacique, Bar-bellied Woodpecker, Gould’s Inca, Grass-green Tanager, Striped Treehunter, Fulvous Wren, Ochraceous-breasted Flycatcher, stunning golden-collared Tanage just to name a few. Although infrequently seen, we have a chance for Hazel-fronted Pygmy Tyrant and Hooded Tinamou here, while we will have more chance for Bolivian Antpitta, Upland Antshrike, Orange-browned Hemispingus, Fulvous Wren, Black-throated Thistletail and Yungas Tody-Tyrant if we haven’t seen them earlier in the trip.

Day 21: We will spend much of the day birding along the Coroico road looking for anything important we might have missed the previous days and then drive back to La Paz and finally to Lake Titicaca.

Day 22: We will drive to Sorata and spend our final morning of the main tour searching for the highly localized and endemic Berlepsh’s Canastero. Other good birds in this area include Huayco Tinamou, Green-tailed Trainbearer, Andean Swallow and Cinereous Conebill. Afterwards we will explore the shore of Lake Titicaca, where we will search for our last target of the trip, the Titicaca Grebe. Those finishing the tour today will transfer back to La Paz International Airport (LPB) this evening, while those continuing on the extension will drive north.

 

APOLO AND PALKACHUPA COTINGA EXTENSION

Day 1: Following afternoon birding around Lake Titicaca, we will transfer north to Charazani for an overnight stay.

Day 2: This morning we will have a pre-dawn departure and transfer to town of Apolo where we will stay for the next four nights. We may stop on the road at some interesting Yungas forests section in search something we might have missed in the main tour. We make another stop looking for the localized Yungas Tyrannulet, and we will later arrive in time at Apolo for some initial exploration.

Day 3-4-5: On morning we will make our way in the area of Aten and reach some dry woodland and scrubby habitat looking for the highly-localized and endemic Palkachupa Cotinga. We will make some particular effort to locate it, and we will also looking the same area for near-endemic Green-capped Tanager, a species that also occurs in southeast Peru but apparently much easier to locate in this region. We will also explore the Machariapo Valley adjacent to Madidi National Park looking for our other main target of this extension, the recently discovered Inti Tanager. This area is the only reliable spot in the world and we will devote much of our effort looking for this mega bird.

Time permitting, we will also explore more humid Yungas forests on the edge of the vast Madidi National Park. This area allows us an opportunity to find the endemic Yungas Antwren and the highly localized Rough-legged Tyrannulet. More key species in this section include Bolivian Recurvebill, Upland Antshrike, Bolivian (or Bolivian White-crowned) Tapaculo, Cabanis’s Spinetail, Yungas Tody-Tyrant, Yungas Manakin and Straw-backed Tanager, Ocellated Piculet, Inambari Woodcreeper and white-rumped Sirystes. With luck, we should also encounter the distinctive local race of Black-capped Antwren, yet to be split as ‘Inambari-Tambopata Antwren’.

We also have a reasonable chance to find Inti Tanager, sensationally discovered breeding in Madidi only recently. The birds will have returned by the time of our visit, but are scarce and move around mostly with mixed flocks, making them hard to target.

Day 6: After some final birding in the Apolo area, we will transfer back to Charazani for an overnight, making some birding stops en route depending on the timing available.

Day 7: After spending the morning birding around Charanzi, we will transfer to La Paz International Airport (LPB), where our extension ends in the afternoon.

Tour details

MAIN TOUR 2025
Cost:
$  8,800
Deposit: $ 750
Single room supplement: $ 700

EXTENSION 2025
Cost:
$  2,300
Deposit: $ 750
Single room supplement: $ 200

 

Accommodation: Mostly good, occasionally medium standard hotels throughout our stay.

Walking difficulty: Mostly easy with only a couple of moderate effort walks, mostly due to the altitude.

Tour cost includes: All accommodation, main meals, drinking water, internal flights (as stated in itinerary), overland transport, tips to local drivers and guides, travel permits, entrance fees, and guide fees.

Tour cost excludes: Flights before and after the tour start/end, visa, travel insurance, tips to tour leaders, laundry, drinks and other items of a personal nature.