From Amazon to Andes

Day 1: Arrive in Quito

Upon arrival in Quito, you’ll settle into a stylish five-star hotel with spacious rooms, sweeping city views, and design inspired by the Andes. It’s the perfect place to relax, recharge, and ease into the adventure ahead. In the evening, we’ll gather for a welcome dinner to meet the group, enjoy great food, and begin setting the tone for the journey to come.

Day 2: Into the Ecuadorian Amazon

After breakfast, we transfer to the airport for our short flight to a gateway of the Amazon. From there, we continue by boat to a beautiful community-owned eco-lodge deep in the rainforest. Photography begins right away with your first glimpses of Amazonian birdlife and river landscapes. Depending on conditions, we may head out by dugout canoe or explore nearby forest trails, with early chances for toucans, monkeys, and other classic Amazon wildlife.

Day 3: Clay Lick Spectacle

Today is devoted to one of the great wildlife spectacles of the Amazon: the unforgettable gathering of parrots, parakeets, and macaws at active clay licks. This is a high-energy, visually rich morning with nonstop motion, sound, color, and behavior. It’s one of the most exciting bird photography experiences anywhere in South America and a true highlight of the trip.

Day 4: Flexible Amazon Photography

Today remains flexible so we can adapt to conditions and photographic opportunities in the rainforest. We may work from the water, explore forest trails, or use elevated viewpoints for a different perspective on Amazon birdlife. These varied approaches create opportunities for everything from intimate compositions and reflections to eye-level encounters with canopy species. When conditions allow, we’ll also look for night photography opportunities focused on smaller rainforest subjects.

Day 5: From the Amazon to the Cloud Forest

We return by boat and fly back to Quito before continuing directly into the cloud forest. By afternoon, we’ll already be photographing at our lodge and nearby setups, with chances for hummingbirds, colorful tanagers, toucans, and other cloud forest specialties in beautiful light. This transition creates an exciting shift in mood, from the wild immersion of the Amazon to a more refined and highly productive photographic setting.

Day 6: Private Multi-Flash Hummingbird Session

Today is dedicated to one of the workshop’s most specialized experiences: a private advanced multi-flash hummingbird session. This is an extraordinary opportunity to create crisp, high-impact flight images that reveal remarkable detail, while also enjoying excellent natural-light photography around beautifully designed feeder setups. It’s a highly productive day that blends technical creativity with nonstop action.

Day 7: Cloud Forest Reserves & Cock-of-the-Rock

We spend the day exploring handpicked cloud forest locations that offer a mix of feeders, light-based techniques, and natural photography opportunities. The focus is on variety, behavior, and working in beautiful soft light with hummingbirds, tanagers, trogons, and other regional specialties. In the afternoon, we photograph from a private hide at an active Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek, one of the most dramatic and unforgettable bird photography experiences in the Andes.

Day 8: Endemics, Hummingbirds & Return to Quito

Today we work with beautifully prepared perches, feeders, and flowering plants that attract an exceptional diversity of endemics and hummingbirds. This is a wonderfully productive day for creating clean, colorful portraits of some of the cloud forest’s most coveted species. Later, we visit a second area for additional photographic variety before returning to Quito.

Day 9: High Andes Finale

Our final photography day takes us into the high Andes for a completely different visual experience. We’ll search for Andean Condors at eye level, then continue through spectacular páramo landscapes looking for Ecuadorian Hillstar, Carunculated Caracara, Andean Ibis, Giant Hummingbird, and other high-elevation specialties. There is also a chance to look for Andean Bear in suitable habitat. In the evening, we’ll celebrate the adventurer with a farewell dinner in Quito. This night’s hotel is included for those who would like to stay an extra day and relax after the workshop.

Day 10: Departure

Today is our departure day with transportation provided to the Quito International Airport. For those continuing to Galapagos with us on the April dates, prepare for another unforgettable adventure!