Trogon Photo Tours



ECUADOR

 February 1-13, 2021

October 9-19, 2021 West Slope

October 19-29, 2021 East Slope

Amazon Extension

February 13-18, 2021

October 29-November 3, 2021

Summary: This photo tour visits the best sites for bird photography, as well as the top lodge for reptile photography on the Western slope of Ecuador.  It includes 4 nights at Sachatamia Lodge, which has a great multi-flash hummingbird photography area and 2 blinds which attract a lot of forest birds as well as fruit feeders.  Sachatamia is the best lodge for photographing Violet-tailed Sylph and Booted Rackettail on the multi-flash.  While at Sachatamia we will take a day trip to a different lodge which is the best place to photograph the amazing Plate-billed Mountain Toucan, this lodge has reflecting pools where you can get stunning images.  Next we spend 3 nights at Guango Lodge, the best spot for Sword-billed Hummingbird photography in Ecuador and great for multi-flash in general.  Then we go a bit lower on the east slope to Rio Quijos Lodge.  This lodge has a different set of hummingbirds, is excellent for multi-flash and is the best area in Ecuador to photograph the amazing Sunbittern.  We will spend 3 nights in the Quito area with Zaysant Ecolodge as our base on arrival and departure.  During this time we will also visit Antisana for photography of Andean Condors and other highland birds.

About Ecuador -  Ecuador is one of the richest countries in the world for birds and bird photography.  Over 1,550 species of birds have been recorded in Ecuador, the fourth highest total of any country in the world.  It has many excellent lodges, good roads, a stable government and is reachable from most of North America in 8 hours travel or less.
   
What to expect:  Many of the birds will be close up.  For example with the hummingbird photography I usually use my 300mm lens rather than my 500mm and intermediate to long zoom lenses are ideal for this type of photography (think 70-200 with 1.4 teleconverter, 70-300, 100-400 etc).  At the other locations and for the other birds a minimum of 300mm is recommended.   As far as the multi-flash setup is concerned you can use your own camera with an external flash which will fire all of my slave flashes automatically.  This makes it easy for participants to get lots of excellent hummingbird shots.  Everyone will get at least 10 sessions which last more than at least an hour each with the multi-flash, this is much more than most photography tours offer. The weather can vary from sunny to rainy but with the multi-flash hummingbird photography we are shooting from covered porches as well as some of the other locations where we are photographing fruit feeding birds coming in to feeders. 

Maximum Participants: 10 total, including a maximum of 6 photographers.  

Tour Leaders: Javier Zurita and Charles Gangas.  Javier is from Quito, Ecuador, he is an excellent young photographer.  For his thesis, he studied building blinds for bird photography and he is the person who has constructed the blinds at Sachatamia and several other location in Ecuador.  He also enjoys working with snakes and frogs.  Chuck is an award winning photographer who has co-led some of our Ecuador tours in the past.  Ken Archer will co lead the October tours.  

Cost: Photographer  $4,800 includes all lodging, meals, transportation within Ecuador, guiding, instruction, $400 single supplement.  Nonphotographer spouse or companion cost is $4,200.  It does not include airfare to and from Quito, Ecuador which is the beginning and ending point of the tour,  It also does not include personal expenses such as tips or drinks. To reserve your spot a deposit of $1,200 is required. The balance is due 90 days prior to the tour. 2021 Cost West Slope $4,395, East Slope $4,595, $400 single supplement for each.

East Slope October 19-29, 2021: This photo tour includes arrival and departure at Zaysant Lodge and trip to Antisana as well as 2 nights each at Wild Sumaco, Guango and Rio Quijos lodges.  All 3 of those lodges are very good for hummingbird mulit-flash photography.  Wild Sumaco is much lower on the eastern slope and the birds are very different there. Black-mantled Tamarins visit the feeders here as well as the birds.  Guango is the best lodge for photographing Sword-billed Hummingbird and is excellent in general for hummingbird photography.  Walks along the river can produce Torrent Duck.  Rio Quijos is the best location to photograph Sunbittern in Ecuador and is very good for the golden booted Eastern version of Booted Rackettail.  Both San Isidro and Wild Sumaco use lights to attract moths which attract a variety of insect eating birds in the morning.  Both of those lodges also feed antpittas. 

Amazon extension: Cost of the extension to Kichwa Anangu Lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon is $2,595 with a $400 single supplement.  It includes flight to and from Coca, 4 nights lodging at Kichwa which is part of the Napo Wildlife Center in Yasuni National Park, one of most biodiverse areas on the planet.  It's situated very close to a tower which is excellent for bird photography.  We also visit parrot clay licks and go for boat trips to photograph Hoatzin and other species. opportunities with Hoatzins, a variety of parrots, owls and many other species.  It's an enchanting location!  The October 2021 extension is to Sani Lodge, also in the Ecuadorian Amazon with pretty much the same subjects. 

 
Contact - Email us at nchappell@trogontours.net if you are interested in this tour or call Nate at
281-778-1486