A 30 minute flight from Quito to Coca over the eastern Andes mountain range is the beginning of this fantastic experience. After landing, a short 5 minute drive will bring you to the Coca port where you will take a comfortable covered motorboat ride along the Napo River. Approximately 2 hours later, and after spotting some birds along the way, we arrive at Napo Wildlife Center’s first welcoming area which is complete with restroom facilities.
After arriving at Napo Wildlife Center’s welcoming area, we will switch watercraft and take a magical and peaceful 2 hour dugout-canoe ride along a narrow creek where motorized vehicles are prohibited. The Añangu stream connects to the lake where the lodge is located. Along the way, we’ll see our first hoatzins and get a taste for the diversity of the region, with birds perhaps including rufescent tiger-heron, sungrebe, red-bellied macaw, and green-and-rufous kingfisher. We reach our final destination by arriving at the lodge in the late afternoon. Enjoy your first night at NWC lodge.
(The days can be extended as required by passengers)
One or two mornings, we will visit the very sturdy canopy tower which offers privileged access to a world apart from the rest of the rainforest. Three full days or more will only scratch the surface of the full range of avifauna in western Amazonia. Get a feel for the complexity of precious habitats and microhabitats within easy reach of the lodge.
Flocks of oropendolas, aracaris, tanagers, and euphonias roam the canopy in search of fruit. Spangled and plum-throated cotingas sing from the treetops while raptors perch on vantage points to dry off in the morning sun. White-browed purpletufts and crowned slaty flycatchers compete for insects, numerous parrots and macaws fly by or drop in if there is a fruiting tree nearby, and many other species wander past (and through!) the towering tree.
Good forest trails offer access to another component of the avifauna with woodcreepers, antbirds, and tinamous are particularly well represented. We should be able to encounter the vocally striking screaming piha and the visually striking black-necked red cotinga. Keep your eyes peeled, cameras charged, and binoculars at the ready.
Several clay licks (or “saladeros”) exist on the NWC lands. Here we should see (and hear!) the spectacle of hundreds of parrots and parakeets coming in to eat clay. It’s a unique sight to see, and it never gets old! The river-edge forest, where we’ll visit the local community that built and expertly runs the lodge, is home to numerous other species such as turquoise and magpie tanagers, rufous-headed woodpeckers, and swallow-winged puffbirds.
We’ll also enjoy numerous canoe rides around the lake by the lodge and along adjacent creeks, where the songs of silvered and plumbeous antbirds reverberate through the flooded forest. Birds we will be seeking here include the poorly known zigzag heron, a habitat specialist called the point-tailed palmcreeper, the orange-crested manakin, and the striking long-billed woodcreeper. Plenty of different species of monkeys and the impressive giant river otter are also highlights.
And then there are islands in the Río Napo which, depending on their age, support a varied avifauna distinct from that found on the “mainland” only a few hundred yards away! Island specialties we hope to see include the black-and-white antbird, olive-spotted hummingbird, and at least three species of spinetails. Plus more “expected” river birds such as the capped heron, collared plover, and yellow-billed tern will surely make an appearance.
Today we will make the journey back along the Añangu stream and head back up the Napo River to Coca for the return flight to Quito.
