Brazil Birding Tours

Dear Chris, Thank you for your interest in the outcome of our tour. It is not possible to answer you in one note, so I will try to do so in a few ‘to the point’ remarks. Yes, the trip met all our expectations, and more! We saw and experienced the Cerrado, the Amazon forest, even better than previously at Tambopata, and the Pantanal with its amazing variety and volume of wildlife. For me the sight of a Hyacinth Macaw, which drew me to the Pantanal, already made it worthwhile. Then, of course, come the excellent sightings of the Jaguars and the Otters and then all the birds for which Eduardo made special efforts to find for his goals. In the Cerrado we stayed in an excellent farm-lodge where we were lucky to experience the sighting of the Maned Wolf and the Burrowing Owl (which was on Elzine’s bucket list), apart from a number of colourful specials like the Motmot and Jacamar. In the Amazon we were also very lucky to find another of Elzine’s target species, the Anaconda, and also another member of South America’s big five, the Tapir. We had an excellent session of forest birding on one of the towers where we could really appreciate the advantages of our private tour which, we think, was good value for the additional cost. Together with the Cristalino guide we had the tower for ourselves, and with an excellent guide like Eduardo also with us, we experienced a feast of good sightings. On EDUARDO: It was a pleasure to travel with him again and having him as a guide who showed his expertise even in the presence of other local guides. It is good to hear that he also enjoyed our company. In summary, we came back as very satisfied customers of Birding Ecotours and wish to thank you and Lynn for the opportunity to experience the Heart of Brazil.

I was fortunate enough to be able to add an extension on to the Best of Brazil Pantanal and Atlantic Forest 2019 trip. The extension took me on a visit to the Belo Horizonte and the Caraça Monastery where one gets to see the Maned Wolf and then to the border of Brazil and Argentina where the famous Iguazu Falls cascade between the two countries. I did the extension as a private tour with Eduardo Ormaeche as tour leader. I would definitely recommend a private tour if it is within your means as the beauty of seeing the Maned Wolf at the monastery is turned into magic when there is a limited amount of people around. Staying at the Monastery is also truly an experience not to be missed. In addition to the Monastery and Maned Wolf, Eduardo did a fantastic job at finding all the birds of note in the area. Iguazu Falls was truly beautiful. It is a very busy area though with many tourists from both Argentina and Brazil coming out for day trips, but there are so many lookouts and viewing areas that one can see the falls from many angles and get some wonderful photographs. The Great Dusky Swift are around the falls and Eduardo was able to find the perfect viewing spot to watch them nesting. It was a trip well worth remembering and recommending.

I think this is the best tour I've taken. Brazil's Atlantic rain forest is full of stunning vistas. Every day was remarkable, even with unseasonably cold and rainy weather. Four species of toucans (my favorites), Bare-faced Bellbird, calling yellow frogs, an Atlantic Royal Flycatcher near its nest, and beautiful tanagers and hummingbirds. Our guides, Eduardo and Marco, had extensive knowledge of all facets of natural history, and showed almost as much excitement at some of our sightings as we did!