Colombia’s Coffee Belt: The Central Andes

Black-billed Mountain-Toucan © David Ascanio

A tour to one of Colombia’s premier birding regions promises splendid birding and natural history spectacles enhanced with exposure to the area’s famous coffee-growing culture.

This brand-new tour visits Colombia’s Coffee Belt, in the heart of the Central Andes, a region celebrated for its picturesque landscapes, pleasing climate, and marvelous biodiversity. Hosting a spectacular avifauna, the Central Andes features delightful accommodations, wonderful food, and friendly people. Led by VENT tour leader Doris Valencia and local expert Laura Rubio, this inaugural tour promises a parade of birds ranging from the mesmerizingly beautiful to the nearly mythical, with touches of culture and style.

Our base is the lively mountain city of Manizales, at 7,200 feet and surrounded by cloud forest-covered slopes and lofty peaks and ridges. This location is prime for its easy access to an array of important parks and nature reserves. Each of these protected areas is a haven for birders, photographers, and naturalists alike, with forest trails, flowering gardens, and feeding stations providing opportunities to observe prized birds such as Barred Fruiteater, Sword-billed Hummingbird, Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan, and rarely seen antpittas such as Brown-banded, Equatorial, and the beautiful Crescent-faced.

As the days unfold, we’ll venture through lush cloud forests and surreal páramo landscapes in search of highland specialties that include Black-billed Mountain-Toucan, Buffy Helmetcrest, Rainbow-bearded Thornbill, and a dazzling mix of tanagers, mountain-tanagers, finches, wrens, flycatchers and more. Whether you're on the trail or relaxing in a hummingbird-filled garden, every moment brings the potential for excitement.

Throughout the tour, we’ll enjoy stays at carefully selected, bird-friendly lodges and a charming traditional coffee hacienda, each offering comfort, local charm, and direct access to excellent birding. The itinerary covers a range of elevations, culminating in a visit to breathtaking Los Nevados National Park above treeline.

Beyond birds, this tour offers endearing cultural connection. A highlight of the trip is a visit to a bird-friendly coffee farm, where we’ll meet local growers and gain insight into Colombia’s rich coffee traditions, which underpin the growth of community-based conservation in this vibrant part of the country.

Those seeking an enhanced Central Andes experience are encouraged to join the Tatamá National Park and Montezuma Road Pre-trip. Set in the amazingly diverse Chocó bioregion, the park preserves more than 128,000 acres of primary forest and hosts an alluring range of rare and highly desirable birds we will not see on the main tour, a representation of which includes Gold-ringed Tanager, Rufous-gaped Hillstar, Black-and-gold Tanager, and countless other species.

Very good, often charming, accommodations and food; travel between destinations will be in a comfortable air-conditioned vehicle; light to moderate physical demands with most walking on well-established paths and trails; elevations range from 4,000–12,000 feet; activity at highest elevations is very limited; weather usually sunny and mild with occasional periods of cloud cover and rain.

Buffy Helmetcrest © David Ascanio