The Tandayapa Cloud Forest

Located about 1 ½ hours Northwest of Quito, the Ecuadorian subtropical evergreen mountain forest is characterized by a permanent incidence of canopy level mist cover, resulting in the reduction of direct sunlight and thus of evaporation. Perhaps the most characteristic trait of this region is the richness of orchids and birdlife in a range of 350 different varieties species including cock of the rock, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, etc. Its butterflies, bats, squirrels, deer, spectacled bear and small amphibians are also an attraction.

The Tandayapa Valley, dominated by humid cloud forest, has some of the highest diversity of epiphytes anywhere in the world, holding many epiphytic orchids (over 80 species identified to date) and bromeliads, tree ferns, and moss-covered trees. The valley forms the most easily accessible part of the threatened Choco Endemic Bioregion of southwest Columbia and northwest Ecuador, which hosts 61 range-restricted birds, and 9000 plant species (more than 10 percent of the Neotropical flora!). With the use of hummingbird feeders 31 species have so far been recorded in the area, and seeing twenty species in a single day is not a rare event.

Exclusive Activities at Tandayapa

Birdwatching Birding at Tandayapa starts right on the patio and continues through the trail below the lodge that we visit. We will have the opportunitiy to see: Streak-capped Treehunter, Tricolored and White-winged Brush-Finches, Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, Slat-throated Whitestart, White-winged Becard, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, and Three-striped Warbler. Mixed flocks of tanagers often pass through, stopping to feed on fruiting bushes at the right time of year, and Blue-winged Mountain-Tanagers, White-winged Brush-Finches, and Red-headed Barbets come to eat the fruit put out for them outside the lounge windows, sometimes bringing Crimson-rumped Toucanets with them. On sunny days, after the forest has gone quiet, the patio is a great place to watch for raptors. Black-and-Chestnut Eagle is the most sought-after species, and appears quite often, along with Barred Hawk.