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Colombia (final episode). Down from the mountains

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Sunrise in the Sierra Nevada It is not without reason that the Sierra Nevada mountains south of Santa Marta are a popular destination among serious bird watchers. They are home to more than 20 endemic species, birds that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. We have no endemics in the Netherlands. The closest thing to a true endemic is the ‘double-laced Barnevelder’ a rather famous laying-hen, but I don’t see many birding trips heading that way. In Colombia that is a different matter altogether and especially in Santa Marta they were quick to pick up on the fact that birding is big business. They have devised a simple and effective system to put their region in the spotlight. The local tourist office randomly chose 20 birds, added ‘ Santa Marta ’ to their names and that was it. We fall for it, too and at sunrise we are frantically searching for the Santa Marta wren , the Santa Marta Warbler , the Santa Marta woodstar en the Santa Marta screech owl. The dense foliage only allows b
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Colombia part 6. A glimpse of heaven

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  Our beloved leader has instructed us to get up at three o’clock the next morning. Although by now we have become quite good at rising at early hours, our lack of enthusiasm is clearly showing this time. Which endemic rarity must be hunted for in the middle of the night? The real reason, however, is that we have to catch a domestic flight, leaving from Medellin at 9:30, which will take us to Santa Marta in the far north of Colombia. And Medellin is quite a drive from where we are staying. At least six hours. That turns out to be an optimistic estimate. We speed along the dark mountains roads only to get stuck in the morning rush hour in the outskirts of the city. For many of us the need for a sanitary break has become so urgent that the bus is parked on the shoulder of the road for a short stop. No shelter at all, but now is not the time to worry about that. Of course this spectacle has a negative effect on the traffic jam. And all our haste proves to be in vain. The plane leaves with
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Colombia part 5. Cock-of-the Rock

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We leave for Jardin, a drive of about four hours. Not necessarily a bad thing. The scenery is often   beautiful and we can enjoy it in peace, as our driver is doing all the work. A sanitary stop is mandatory of course and, given the average age of the travellers, perhaps more frequently than would be the case with a younger generation. And should there be no cafe available along the road, the ever-present forest will suffice. At one of these stops our tour leader suddenly comes dashing from the trees and calls out he has seen an owl. At first we think he is eager to share a spiritual experience with us, but apparently he is referring to a real bird. This goes to show that moments of privacy for a true bird-tour guide are few and far between. The owl turns out to be a large, striking spectacled owl. It flies off immediately, shocked at the sight of the spectacled tourists, but lands again a little further in a tree along the road. A decent photo is only possible if we go and stand in th
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Colombia part 4. Coffee and Wax Palms

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Our next destination is yet another birdwatcher’s paradise: the Tinamú Nature Reserve. We will only stay here one night so we are going to make the most of it. Allocation of the available rooms at the lodge is decided by a weighted draw, so we end up with quite a good one. A few well-spent colones, we reckon.  A local guide takes us for a walk through the forest. It soon becomes clear to me that it is not wise to lag behind. The guide has exceptionally keen eyes and finds a perfectly camouflaged pootoo , a kind of nightjar, high up in the branches. He points it out to us and after a long search we eventually see it. When the rest of the group arrives a minute or so later the guide has already walked on and they are left staring at the treetops in vain for the next ten minutes. Common Pootoo  On returning to our accommodation, birding becomes a lot more relaxed. Armed with a cold drink, we sit down at one of the garden tables, surrounded by all sorts of bird feeders. Chatting amicably w
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Colombia part 3. The cloud forest

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We move further north. Our first goal is the Parque Nacional de Nevado del Ruiz in the central Andes, between 3000 and 4000 metres high. The views are breathtaking again and so is the icy wind. I try and tell our tour leader that I am thoroughly enjoying the views from the inside of the bus, but he does not fall for it. “We would all like to see the stout-billed cinclodes, wouldn’t we?”, he asks with a stern look. I point out that my life would still be worth living without having seen that particular bird (at least that’s what I think he was referring to)   but the whole group has already left the bus. And I must say with a winter jacket, scarf and gloves I manage to survive a short stay outside. And we do tick off the cinclodes . Stout-billed Cinclodes For lunch we make a stopover at the Hotel Termales del Ruiz, where the steaming thermal pools are a popular place for Dutch cyclists to recover from their high altitude training. To our surprise they have also created a beautiful ga
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Colombia part 2. An Enchanted Garden

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We’re on our way to Honda. This may sound a little strange in Colombia. At first we think it is an excursion to admire Max Verstappen’s newly-designed engine (which will bring him a guaranteed third place again in the next race), but Honda turns out to be a little colourful town, hemmed in between two mountain ranges of the eastern Andes. On our way there we make a stop in San Francisco. Confusing again, I know. We are there to visit the ‘ Jardin Encantado’ , the ‘enchanted garden’.  The enchanting process has undoubtedly taken longer than we are led to believe from Harry Potter’s adventures. It’s hard work, not many of us realise that. In the beautiful garden, situated on a mountain slope, a number of wrought iron arches have been erected, from which dozens of feeders are dangling. Yes, again with the aim of attracting hummingbirds. And it works. Over 20 different species visit the garden and the sound of their buzzing wings is everywhere. It is not easy to identify the different hum
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Colombia part 1 - Up and away

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We are at Schiphol airport, waiting to board our plane. As usual, it is quite busy, but to our horror no-one is wearing a face mask. Well, with the exception of a group of Chinese tourists, but they have been wearing them for decades. We do not understand what is happening here, until we realise it is November 2019. No pandemic yet, no social distancing, everybody around us is hugging everybody else and so are we. We skip the Chinese tourists for the moment, though. Relieved, we look at each other. We can just just fly away without a care in the world. Even so, we are a little worried, as this trip is going to be our first group tour. We have never done that before. We were always dissuaded by spectres of collective photo moments (five minutes, then we’re off again), merry sing-alongs on our way to the airport (everybody happy…?) and whining fellow-travellers (there’s only one hook for our towels). But we do want to make a trip to Colombia to admire the tropical birdlife and group trav
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