CULTURE, NATURE & BIRDS – TOUR DISIGNED FOR JORGEN WIKLUND FAMILY

SOUTHERN PERU TOUR – DECEMBER 2023

21th Thursday To 02th january2024

11 FULL DAYS

PARTICIPANTS: Jorgen Wiklund, Kristina Wiklund, August Wiklund, Elsa Wiklund, Ture Loof

PLACES TO BE VISITED:

• CUSCO: PIURAY LAKE – HUAYPO LAKE – ENSIFERA CAMP – OLLANTAYTAMBO – ABRA MALAGA SITE – AGUAS CALIENTES TOWN – MACHUPICCHU CITADEL
• TAMBOPATA: MACAWS CLAY LICK – LAKE SANDOVAL – CANOPY WALKWAYS – PIRAÑA FISHING
• LIMA: SANTA EULALIA ROAD

TOUR GUIDE: Jesus Cieza

DAY BY DAY TOUR

DAY 01.- CUSCO – PIURAY LAKE – HAYPO LAKE – ENSIFERA CAMP- OLLANTAYTAMBO TOWN

We started from Cusco airport to then drive over the cusco mountains and arrive to a beautiful bird spot, Piuray Lake. Here we spent some good time birding the special water birds and some others that move around this área. Right after this cool time we then move to another bird spot with a bigger lake where we added some more birds plus we also had a nice lunch facing the lake. Late in the afternoon we arrived to Ensifera Camp, a place for hummingbirds and extra birds where we finished our birdy afternoon. Since the bird team was a little tired from taking many planes and hours to get to Peru, so we decided to finish early our bird day. All these mentioned places where along the famous sacred valley and Urubamba river to end up at Ollantaytambo town in a nice warm hotel.

BIRDS OF THE DAY:

Green and White Hummingbird, Many Colored Rush Tyrant, White Tufted Grebe, Andean Lapwing, Andean Goose, Yellow Billed Teal, Puna Ibis, Puna Teal, Chilean Flamingo, Spot Winged Pigeon, Band Tailed Pigeon, Eared Dove, Slate Colored Coot, Andean Duck, Silvery Grebe, Black Necked Stilt, Rufous Collared Sparrow, Chihuanco Thrush, Band tailed Seedeater, Wren Like Rushbird, Yellow Winged Blackbird, Giant Hummingbird, Shining Sunbeam, Tyrian Metaltail, Hooded Siskin, Golden Billed Saltator, Blue and Yellow Tanager, Red Crested Cotinga, Black Throated Flowerpiercer, White Bellied Hummingbird, Sparking Violetear, White Bellied Woodstar, Greater Yellowleg, Andean Gull, Green Tailed Trainbearer, Neotropic Cormorant, Cinereous conebill.

Our first birding stop at Piuray Lake where we could see nice water birds & beautiful
andean landscapes.

DAY 02.- QUILLABAMBA ROAD – PEÑAS – ABRA MALAGA PASS

Early start with Jorgen to visit our first bird spot along Quillabamba road. This bird location is at 3500m good bird place for endemics and other cloud forest birds, our morning was a little rainy but after some 15 minutes rain stopped and we could move around this great bird spot. We were lucky to catch some good endemics and other birds while walking along the road and some bird walk into the bushes. Then we headed back to our hotel for breakfast with the whole team and get ready for the day adventure, this time we visited and stopped by abra malaga pass where we found a nice group of local people having hot chocolate and some presents from visitors and anyone who wanted to give them something for christmas. After this nice stop we went to the other side of the mountain and walk along nice paramo (local Grass) to look for some more birds and met some more local people plus a nice lunch in a very local restaurant. Right after this we slowly went back to Ollantaytambo town where we decided to visit the local products at the local market to then go for our dinner in one of the many nice restaurant found around this little town.

BIRDS OF THE DAY:

Chesnut Breasted Mountain Finch, White Tufted Sunbeam, Creamy Crested Spinetai, Rusty Fronted Canastero and many more birds like Glacier Finch, Plumbeous Sierra Finch, Creamy Winged Cinclodes, Andean Flicker, Scaled Metaltail, Great Sapphirewing, White Browed Chat Tyrant, Rust and Yellow Tanager, White Crested Elaenia, Paramo Pipit, Black Siskin, Masked Flowerpiercer, Peruvian Sierra Finch.

Jorgen & August with a nice group of andean kids and a cool looking bird White
Creste Elaenia.

DAY 03.- OLLANTAYTAMBO & TRAIN TO AGUAS CALIENTES TOWN

A relaxed breakfast in a nice restaurant at the hotel to then take the Voyager Experience at Inka Rail train for 02 hours to Aguas Calientes town. On the way this train company gave us a nice show performed by the train staff, cool train ride with some Torrent Ducks on the way since the train goes paralel to Urubamba river, once at this little town we had a nice welcome time on a very cool place owned by Inkaterra Hotel chain, this hotel lodge gave us nice quality stay but this time Jorgen was not feeling well since altitud was killing him and had to bring the local doctor so we could not really bird the área the proper way but even like this with Jorgen feeling bad we managed to see some birds around.

BIRDS OF THE DAY:

White Capped Dipper, Torrent Duck, Black Phoebe and Andean Motmot.

Kristina & Elsa enjoying the Party train & a nice lunch at Inkaterra Hotel in Aguas
Calientes Town.

DAY 04.- AGUAS CALIENTES TOWN – MACHUPICCHU VISIT

After a nice early breakfast at this lovely hotel we then move at the bus station to go up for 20 minutes till the main machupicchu’s gate. Once up in Machupicchu Our local tour guide took us for a nice walk around this magical place with great Machupicchu information about incas general details. At the very beginning Machupicchu was a little cloudy so we just waited around while our local guide was giving us great inca information then after some good time waiting for the mist to clear up suddenly the sun started to shine up and we could get the Machupicchu’s view we were waiting for. With more than 02 hours around this new wonder, we could get all we wanted to know about this place plus some great machupicchu pictures, then we decided to walk down this mountain till aguas calientes town where we went for another great lunch. Our afternoon was spent doing some easy birding around the hotel’s property with Jorgen since he could not join us up in Machupicchu because of some altitud sickness. The rest of my team just had some relaxing afternoon by the pool¡¡

Our night time at this cool hotel was spent having some refreshing drinks in front of a nice local band playing great local music and of course a nice christmas dinner¡¡

BIRDS OF THE DAY:

Inca Wren, Green and White Hummingbird, some others like Sclater’s Tyrannulet, Russet Crowned Warbler, Blue Naped Chlorophonia, Black Backed Grosbeak, Green Jay, Dusky Green Oropendola, Sierran Elaenia, Yellow Olive Flatbill, Brown Capped Vireo, Andean, Palm Tanager, Mottle Cheecked Tyrannulet, Torrent Tyannulet.

Machupicchu visit with Jorgen’s Family.

DAY 05.- AGUAS CALIENTES – OLLANTAYTAMBO – CUSCO – VISIT TO LOCAL MARKET

This time we have jorgen back in the birding field since he wasn’t feeling well for few days so we birded inkaterra hotel in the early morning looking for jorgen’s bird that was andean cock of the rock. We had a lucky morning since we found it and got to photograh it as well, then some bird walk by this nice property where we could see some more cool birds and then went for a nice breakfast at 8am with the whole team.

Nice breakfast variety to then take the train back to Ollantaytambo and finally car to cusco where we went for a nice lunch facing cusco’s main square with cool churches and cathedrals around to finally spend our afternoon visiting diferente local markets with a little shopping.

BIRDS OF THE DAY:

Sclater’s tyrannulet, ashy headed tyrannulet, mottle cheecked tyrannulet, montane woodcreeper, Golden olive woodpecker, White throated quail Dove, variable antshrike, andean cock of the rock, common tody flycatcher, Orange bellied euphonia, blue dacnis, road sided hawk, rufous booted racketail, saffron crowned tanager.

Nice lunch facing Cusco’s Main Square & Jorgen fighting for oxigen¡¡

DAY 06.- CUSCO – PUERTO MALDONADO – COLLPAS INN LODGE – CANOPY TOWER – NIGHT WALK

Nice relaxed breakfast at Tierra Viva Hotel in Cusco to then head to the airport for 40 minutes flight to the flat jungle in Tambopata. This time we really changed high altitud from andes to 280m at the tropical rainforest where we had the chance to see our first Snake that was spotted right on the way to our lodge, in the middle of the road where we could see it well and could identify it as Yellow Tailed Cribo. Then after a nice lunch in an open restaurant at the lodge, we went to enjoy the tower of 52 meters that give an amazing jungle view where you you can also spot birds around. We spent the afternoon up there and once got totally dark, we started walking back to the lodge with flashlight looking for frogs, Bettles, Katydis, and we could also see a nice Bicolor Porcupine.

BIRDS OF THE DAY:

White Collared Swift, Burrowing Owl, Sand Collared Nighthawk, Red and Green Macaw, White Bellied Parrot, Capped Heron, Double Toothed Kite, Paradise Tanager, Opal Rumped Tanager, Ocellated Poorwill, Amazonian Pygmy Owl, Black Faced Dacnis, Ruddy Ground Dove, Blue Black Grassquit, Smooth Billed Ani, Black Billed Thrush, Little Tinamou, Great Tinamou, Yellow Rumped Cacique, Greater Yellow Headed Vulture, Black Billed Thrush, Silver Beaked Tanager.

Heading to Our Jungle lodge & Looking jungle from 52m tower.

DAY 07.- COLLPAS INN LODGE – BOAT & PIRANHA FISHING – MONKEY SPOTTING WALK – NIGHT BOAT SEARCHING FOR ANIMALS

Our second day at Collpas Inn Lodge we went for a nice boat ride along a beautiful creek where we spent some good time fishing for piranhas and we could also see some interesting birds like Hoatzins, Kingfishers, Monkeys, Turtles, Macaws and some local miners along this creek. One of the team, this time August Caught a nice Speckled Piranha and he also went for a nice refreshing swim in this cool creek. Nice moring spent by water to then have a good lunch, a little break to then go for a forest walk and look for monkeys along the many trails on this private reserve own by this nice lodge. After good walking around we were able to spot some nice monkey groups like Weddell’s Tamarin Monkey, Toppin’s Titi Monkey and a nice family of Red Howler Monkey right by the lodge.

Later this day we went for a night boat ride looking for night time animals by the interesting Tambopata river, on this excursión we had a very close and good view of a very uncommon Smooth Fronted Caiman, Common Potoo, Ladder Tailed Nightjar and Boat Billed Heron. Plus a very nice view of a full moon along the river¡¡

BIRDS OF THE DAY:

Boat Billed Heron, Speckle Chachalaca, Gray Fronted Dove, Pale Rumped Swift, White Necked Jacobin, Rufous Breasted Hermit, Reddis Hermit, Sunbittern, Black Tailed Trogon, Yellow Billed Nunbird, Black Fronted Nunbird, Bluish Fronted Jacamar, White Throated Toucan,  Channel Billed Toucan, Crimson Crested Woopecker, Collared Forest Falcon, Cobalt Winged Parakeet, Blue Headed Parrot, Mealy Parrot, White Bellied Parrot, Dusky Headed Parakeet, Yellow Breasted Warbling Antbird, Chesnut tailed Antbird, Black Throated Antbird, Black Faced Anttrush, Cinnamon Throated Woodcreeper, Pale Legged Hornero, Seppia Capped Flycatcher, Olive Faced Flatbill, Large Headed Flatbill, Boat Billed Flycatcher, Gray Capped Flycatcher, Violaceous Jay, Thrush Like Wren, Russet Backed Oropendola, Crested Oropendola, Solitary Black Cacique, Epaulet Oriole.

Nice boat ride along a cool creek for animal spotting and Piranha fishing.

DAY 08.- COLLPAS TAMBOPTA INN – MACAWS CLAY LICK – PARADISE LODGE – CANOPY WALKWAY

This time we started at 4:30 am to navigate the popular Tambopata river for 01 hour and reach the famous and largest Mcaw’s Clay lick. Here along this nice boat ride we could get on the way some Chesnut Fronted and Scarlet Macaws licking the clay in one of the Clay lick before the main one. Once at the main spot we spent some good time looking and shooting the birds that were sitting and some that were arriving at this bird spot, nice combination of colors and birds. Once having the shots we wanted we decided to take the boat again to look for the Giant rodents known as Capibaras, so another nice boat ride back and we were finally able to spot 02 single Capibaras plus a nice Capibara family with 03 babies walking by the river.

Once at the lodge we packed all the luggage we had and headed to the next lodge that is located at a different river where, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking up on the hanging bridges looking for canopy birds and an exiting zip line. Fun day mixed up with nature, boat trips, zip line and birds¡¡

BIRDS OF THE DAY:

Chesnut fronted, Red and Green, Blue and Yellow & Scarlet Macaw. Some others like Orange Cheecked Parrot, Mealy Parrot, White Bellied Parrot, Pied Lapwing, Capped Heron, Black Skimer, Snowy Egret, Great Black Hawk, Osprey, Eastern Kingbird, Drab Water Tyrant, Orinoco Goose, Blue Throated Piping Guan, White Banded Swallow, Southern Rough Winged Swallow, Green Ibis, Olive Faced Flatbill, Purplish Jay, Crested Caracara, Black Vulture.

Canopy walkways, Zipline & Canopy birds like Crean Colored Woodpecker.

DAY 09.- PARADISE LODGE – INDIGENOUS FAMILY VISIT & SANDOVAL LAKE

We had a nice breakfast facing another river, this time Madre de dios River. Here we had a nice lodge with good food and a little pool to cool down a little, since jungle temperature is always hot and humid, so our early morning activity was a nice visit to a local family from the Arawak family people who speak Machiguenga which is one of the many local jungle dialects found in the peruvian amazon. So we spent some good time with this lovely family learning about how they live today and how they used to live, we could learn how to make fire, shooting arrows, weaving and had fun with the kids.

Then after another good lunch we went for a nice nature walk to end up at lake Sandoval where we caught a light warm rain to then have a clear sky around the lake moving in a little local canoe. Very nice place with very good nature view and of course many monkeys like Black Capped Squirrel, Red Howler and Brown Capucin Monkeys right in front of us with many more water birds around like the unique Hoatzin. After this great lake time we had another night walk experience walking back to the river where we could spot a nice snake known as Common Musurana Juvenil and many tree frogs plus beautiful Tarantulas¡¡

BIRDS OF THE DAY:

Agami Heron, Sungrebe, Sunbittern, Hoatzin, Green and Rufous, Ringed and Amazon Kingfiher, Striated Heron, Pale Vented Pigeon, Red Bellied Macaw, Sulphury Flycatcher, Gray Cowled Wood Rail, Muscovy Duck, Anhinga, Boat Billed Heron, Red Capped Cardinal, Bat Falcon, Cream Colored Woodpecker, White Browed Antbird, Chesnut Tailed Antbird, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Plain Xenop, Band Tailed Manakin, Screaming Piha, White Shouldered Tanager.

Elsa holding a Machiguenga baby & another nice Canoe ride at Sandoval lake.

DAY 10.- KAYAKING ALONG MADRE DE DIOS RIVER – FLIGHT BACK TO LIMA

Our last morning at this corner in the southern peru, Tambopata. We took a motor boat with three double kayaks to have fun on a nice little creek spotting many Hoatzin on the way, then we finished our kayak time along the majestic Madre de dios river to pack our bags, good lunch and headed to town for our afternoon flight to Lima.

Night walks in jungle bring cool things like Tarantulas & Snakes¡¡

DAY 11.- FULL DAY ALONG SANTA EULALIA ROAD – WEST BIRD SPECIALTIES – DIADEMED SANDPIPER PLOVER.

Very early start to drive for 03 hours along the Central highway to finally arrive to the Upper part of Santa Eulalia road where we had a nice coffee and breakfast. Our bird morning up there was cold and little windy with light rain but even like this we spotted many birds on the way down along this amazing birdy road. Once on the lower part rain did not want to stop so we had to move much further down to avoid the non stopping rain and at the same time to avoid any land slide that could block our driving.

Once at the lower part of the road we could do some more birding and get some more birds by walking along the road. Here we also had the chance to have a short stop for our lunch and we had the endemic Bronze Tailed Comet right in front of us while eating.

BIRDS OF THE DAY:

Diademed-Sandpiper Plover, Great Inca Finch, Rusty Bellied Brush Finch, Black Necked Woodpecker, Bronze Tailed Comet, Olivaceous Thornbill, Dark Winged Miner, Puna Sine, Gray Breasted Seedsnipe, Puna Tinamou, Bright Rumped Yellow Finch, Andean Swallow, White Winged Cinclodes, Brown Bellied Swallow, Buff Breasted Earthcreeper, Andean Tinamou, Purple Collared Woodstar, Variable Hawk, Peruvian Pygmy Owl, Scrub Blackbird, Bare Faced Ground Dove, Black Siskin.

The unique Hoatzins & the Santa Eulalia specialty Diademed Sandpiper-Plover.