In 4WD trough Central and Western Bolivia. Chaco, Valleys, Cloud Forests and Puna. From Santa Cruz to Samaipata, Comarapa, Siberia, Cochabamba, Oruro, Sajama, Sorata, Titicaca, ending in La Paz.  

The tour can be done the other way around, but bear in mind that going slowly up from the lowlands to the highlands is better in order to avoid possible high altitude sickness. You can adapt this trip to a more relaxed pace, adding to the program one or tree days in the most interesting places of this itinerary. You’ll obtain the same birding list without getting up necessarily at 5:00 am day after day, you’ll enjoy a good rest in a pool during tropical siestas and you won't miss a particular spot in case of a rainy day. Ask for our Intense Birding tours to the eastern savannas and tropical dry forests, Bolivian Pantanal and Noel Kempff Nat. Parks for a more complete Bolivian Birds panorama.

Day 1: Before leaving Santa Cruz de la Sierra, we will bird quiet early the close County Park Lomas de Arena or the Botanical Garden. Its open savannas, chacoan thorn-scrub, gallery forests and marshy wetlands features birds like White-bellied Nothura, Ringed Teal, Comb Duck, Whistling Heron, Southern Lapwing, Blue-winged Parrotlet, Yellow-collared Macaw, Guira Cuckoo, White-eared Puffbird, Toco Toucan, White-wedged Piculet, White Woodpecker, Campo Flicker, Red-billed Scythebill, Pale-breasted and Chotoy Spinetails, White-rumped Monjita, Great Antshrike and Bolivan Slaty Antshrike, Mato Grosso Antbird, Straneck’s Tyrannulet and Fawn-breasted Wren; among others. Ones the birds activity slows down, we leave toward Samaipata in a comfortable 4WD vehicle well equipped for the coming days, stopping in secondary roads to probably find in the semi-deciduous pre-montane forests Slender-tailed Woodstar, Buff-bellied Hermit, Andean Motmot, Purple and Plush-crested Jays, Thrush-like Wrens. We should hear Large-tailed Dove, Chestnut-backed Antshrike and with luck be able to find the endemic Bolivian Recurvebill, the elusive Slaty Gnateater and more easily Yungas Manakin. Picnic or lunch in a restaurant with open view to a charming lagoon surrounded by forest and red cliffs where Least Grebe, Wattled Jacana, Masked Duck are as easy to see as the noisy Yellow-chevroned Parakeets, Scaly-napped Parrot, Channel-billed Toucan, Dusky-green Oropendola and Chopi Blackbird. Afternoons walk along a ravine where we can see Black-chested Buzzard-eagle, Planalto Hermit, Ocellated Piculet, Ochre-cheeked Spinetail, Buff-browed Foliage-gleaner, Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper, Streaked Xenops, Black-capped Antwren, White-backed Fire-eye, Short-tailed Antthrush and Black-capped Warbling Finch. Dinner at a restaurant like Latina Cafe and we spend the night in our guesthouse La Glorieta in Samaipata (1.700 m.a.s.l.)

Day 2: We leave very early toward Postrervalle, where we will have breakfast. In the near Podocarpus parlatorei forests we will look for Red-faced Guan, Tucuman Parrot, Blue-capped Puffleg, White-throated Antpitta, Streak-fronted and Spot-breasted Thornbirds, Golden-winged Cacique, while in the road and near cascades we may find, Buff-necked Ibis, White-tipped Dove, Military Macaw, Blue-fronted Parrot, Mitred and Green-cheeked Parakeet, Scissor-tailed Nightjar, White-collared Swift, Rothschild´s Swift, Speckled Hummingbird, Andean Tyrant, White-capped Dipper and others. Lunch will be served in Postrervalle. After resting shortly, we’ll pass near a Condors resting spot where we can also see King Vulture, White-tipped Swift, hear Huayco Tinamou, Tataupa Tinamou and discover Olive-crowned Crescent-chest, Giant Antshrike, Sooty-fronted Spinetail, White-winged Black-tyrant and Rusty-browed Warbling Finch. Dinner in restaurant Descanso en las Alturas and overnight in the same Guesthouses.

Day 3: We leave early to have picnic breakfast in Mataral or Tambo, where we will bird around, may be finding Dusky-legged Guan and surely Blue-crowned Parakeet, White-bellied Hummingbird, Red-tailed Comet, Spot-backed Puffbird, White-fronted Woodpecker, Narrow-billed Woodcreeper, Stripe-crowned Spinetail, Barred and Rufous-capped Antshrike, Greater Wagtail-Tyrant, Crowned Slaty-flycatcher, White-tipped Plantcutter, Masked Gnatcatcher, Purple-throated Euphonia, Black-capped and Ringed Warbling-finches, Red-crested and Gray-crested Finches, Golden-billed Saltator and Black-backed Grosbeak. Ones the birds’ activity slows down, we leave for picnic toward a green oasis in the desert, surrounded by multicolored slopes and shadowed by a superb cliff which hostages the amazing number of 4 endemic species: Red-fronted Macaw, Cliff Parakeet, Bolivian Blackbird and Bolivian Earthcreeper. On the way we can find Buff-necked Ibis, Andean Condor, Harris`s  Hawk, Ruddy and Picui Ground-dove, Blue-fronted Amazon, Cream-backed Woodpecker, Cliff Flycatcher, White-bellied Tyrannulet, Bay-winged and Shiny Cowbird, Saffron-billed Sparrow and Ultramarine Grosbeak. Dinner served at Hotel Paraíso in Comarapa or the Mission in Tambo, where we will spend the night (1,600 m.a.s.l.). 

Day 4: Day dedicated to bird in different habitats in the cloud forest of La Siberia. We will have picnic breakfast on road to Khara Huasi and picnic lunch aside a small lagoon in the cloud forest. We will try to localize between today and the morning of the following day in Sehuencas Hooded and Brown Tinamous, Andean Guan, Solitary and Black-and-Chestnut Eagles, Violet-throated Starfrontlet, endemic Black-hooded Sunbeam, Collared Inca, Scaled Metaltail, Red-billed and Black-winged Parrots, Crested and Golden-headed Quetzals, Blue-banded Toucanet, Hooded Mountain-toucan, Crimson-mantled, Smoky-brown and Red-necked Woodpeckers, Strong-billed and Montane Woodcreepers, Pearled Treerunner, endemic Black-throated Thistletail, Light-crowned Spinetail, endemic Rufous-faced Antpitta, Sclater's, White-throated, Buff-banded and Tawny-rumped Tyrannulets, D´Orbigny´s and Rufous-breasted Chat-tyrants, Bolivian and Trilling Tapaculos, Chestnut and Red-crested Cotingas, Barred and Band-tailed Fruiteaters, Pale-footed Swallow, Andean and White-eared Solitaires, Glossy-black and Andean Slaty Trushes, Three-striped, Pale-legged and Citrine Warblers, Blue-winged, Scarlet and Chestnut-bellied Mountain-tanagers, Saffron-crowned and Green-throated Tanagers, White-browed, Blue-backed and Capped Conebills, Masked and almost endemic Gray-bellied Flowerpiercers, Plushcap, Spectacled Redstart, Rufous-napped and Fulvous-headed Brush-finches among others. We’ll spend the night and have dinner in the cabins of a fishing-club in Sehuencas, what allows us a night walk in search of Yungas Pygmy-owl, Rufous-banded and Buff-fronted Owl and Lyre-tailed Nightjar (2,500 m.a.s.l.)

Day 5: We leave early to go deeper in the Sehuencas protected area, where we will try to find the cloud forest birds that we didn't find the day before, while we enjoy streams and white water rivers inhabited by Torrent Duck and White-capped Dipper, adding to our trip a scenic outdoors breakfast, good pictures and perhaps fresh trout for lunch. In the Polylepis forests, occur Great Saphirewing, Scribble-tailed Canastero, Puna Tapaculo, Great Trush, Cinereous and Giant Conebill, among others. In the afternoon and along secondary ways to Cochabamba, we’ll look for Andean Tinamou, Cinereous Harrier, Variable Hawk, Aplomado Falcon, Bare-faced Ground-dove, Gray-hooded and Andean Parakeets, Andean Swift, Slender-billed Miner, Brown-capped Tit-spinetail, Cream-breasted Canastero, almost endemic Maquis Canastero, Streak-fronted Thornbird, Yellow-billed Tit-tyrant, White-browed Chat-tyrant, Chiguanco Trush, Brown-backed Mockingbird, near-endemics Citron-headed Yellow-Finch and Rufous-sided and  Bolivian Warbling Finches; Great Pampas-Finch, Rufous-bellied Saltator (actually a tanager), Brown-capped Redstart, Yellow-bellied Siskin. Ones in Cochabamba, we’ll enjoy dinner in a good restaurant and spend the night in-a-downtowns-hotel-(2,500-m.a.s.l.).

Day 6: Early breakfast in Tunari National Park. We’ll spend the morning at different heights, looking for endemics and almost endemics missed the previous day, as Wedge-tailed Hillstar, Maquis Canastero, Gray-bellied Flowerpiercer, Bolivian Blackbird, Bolivian Warbling-finch, Cochabamba Mountain-finch plus the interesting Green-tailed Trainbearer and Tawny Tit-Spinetail. Lunch in the great Brewery’s Restaurant, while enjoying an excellent view over Cochabamba. In the afternoon we continue to Villa Tunari, in middle of the tropical lowlands, although some may shortly visit Alalay lagoon before (others will prefer to rest in the hotel, where we’ll leave the laundry until coming back the 8th day). There occur aquatic birds of different altitudes, like White-tufted and Silvery Grebes, Cinnamon, Yellow-billed and Puna Teals; White-cheeked Pintail, Puna Ibis, Andean Lapwing, Andean Gull, Plumbeous Rail, Black-necked Stilt, Andean Avocet, Baird’s Sandpiper, Cream-winged Cinclodes, Wren-like Rushbird, Andean Negrito, Many-colored Rush-Tyrant and Yellow-winged Blackbird. Early evening at the dwarf cloud forest, near the fork to Tablasmonte. This is a good place for the endemic Black-throated Thistletail, the Rufous Antpitta, Buff-throated Treehunter and some spectacular hummers like Booted Racquet-tail, Sword-billed Hummingbird, Blue-mantled and Rufous-capped Thornbills, plus other birds maybe found the 4th day, although not easy to spot as those mentioned quetzals, toucans, woodpeckers, antbirds, tapaculos, cotingas, fruiteaters, solitaries, hemispingus, mountain tanagers, conebills and flowerpiercers. An outdoors picnic for dinner will allow us to look after sunset for White-throated Screech-Owl and the spectacular Lyre-tailed and Swallow-tailed Nightjars, spotted there in previous trips. Way down to Villa Tunari we will also call repeatedly to Cloudforest and Rufescent Screech-Owls, Band-bellied Owl and Rufous-bellied Nighthawk. Very late arrival to the hotel of Villa Tunari, probably El Puente o Los Tucanes (400 m.a.s.l.).

Day 7: We leave at sunrise to check the lowest part of the Old Road between Chapare and Cochabamba where we could find Blue-and-yellow and Red-and-green Macaws; besides Fasciated Tiger-Heron; Agami Heron; Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle, Striolated and Black-streaked Puffbirds; Emerald Toucanet; Straight-billed and Plain-brown Woodcreepers; endemics Bolivian Recurvebill and Yungas Antwren; Slaty Gnateater, White-bellied Pygmy-Tyrant, Buff-throated Toddy-Tyrant, Round-tailed Manakin; Scaly-breasted Wren; among other tanagers White-winged Shrike-Tanager, warblers, Seedeaters, Orioles, etc. After picnic, we’ll look at higher elevation for Rufous Motmot, Gilded and Versicolored Barbets; Chestnut-tipped Toucanet, White-throated Toucan, Ash-browed Spinetail, Bluish-slate and Upland Antshrikes, Black-throated Antbird, Hazel-fronted Pygmy-Tyrant, Unadorned Flycatcher and among other tanagers also Slaty and Orange-eared Tanagers. On the way back, at dusk we will visit a gulch with a lek of Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, where also Amazonian Umbrellabird is usually found. When dark we will call Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl, Spectacled Owl, Great Potoo, Ocellated Poorwill and Ladder-tailed Nightjar. Dinner in Restaurant Surubí and overnight in hotel El Puente o Los Tucanes.

Day 8: Before breakfast we’ll visit the Machía Park, where besides a “back to wildlife” project for captive parrots and toucans as well as mammals like monkeys and big cats, you may watch Chestnut-fronted Macaw, Blue-headed Parrot, Dusky-headed Parakeet, Pale-tailed Barbthroat, Great-billed Hermit, Green-and-rufous Kingfisher, Broad-billed and Amazonian Motmots, Lettered Aracari, Long-tailed and Wedge-billed Woodcreepers, White-throated Antbird and Black-faced Antthrush. After breakfast, we will visit the Oilbird’s Sanctuary place where this nocturnal birds nest and winter in caves. We can also find Rufous-breasted, White-browed and Reddish Hermits; Gray-breasted Sawrewing, White-necked Jacobin, Violet-headed Hummingbird, Rufous-crested Coquette, White-chinned and Golden-tailed Sapphires; Curl-crested Aracari, Cabanis’s Spinetail, Rufous-rumped Foliage-gleaner, Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant, Yungas Tody-tyrant and Black-billed Thrush. Lunch and short rest in Villa Tunari. In the afternoon, basically we return to Cochabamba with few stops on the road. Ones in the city we will enjoy dinner in a good restaurant and we’ll spend the night in a hotel, near to the main square (2,500 m.a.s.l.).

Day 9: On the road to Oruro we may spot Ornate Tinamou, Condor, Variable Hawk, Wedge-tailed Hillstar, Giant Hummingbird, Sparkling Violet-ear, Black-winged and Golden-spotted Ground-Dove, Andean Flicker, Rufous-banded and Puna Miners, Rock Earthcreeper, Tawny Spinetail, Streak-throated Canastero, Tufted Tit-Tyrant, Streak-throated Bush-Tyrant, Spot-billed Ground-Tyrant, Short-billed Pipit, Band-tailed Seedeater, Plain-colored Seedeater, Greenish and Puna Yellow-Finches, Ash-breasted, Band-tailed Sierra-Finch, Black-hooded Sierra-Finch and Yellow-rumped Siskin. Alter lunch in Oruro, we visit Uru uru lake, where depending on the amount of water we may find  Chilean Flamingo,  Puna Ibis,  Yellow-billed, Cinnamon and Puna Teal, White-cheeked Pintail, Plumbeous Rail, Andean Coot, Andean Lapwing, Andean Gull, Black-necked Stilt, Andean Avocet, Puna Plover, Baird's Sandpiper, Wren-like Rushbird, Cream-winged Cinclodes, Many-colored Rush-tyrant and Yellow-winged Blackbird. Dinner and night spend in Curahuara de Carangas (3.850 m.a.s.l.).

Day 10: Breakfast in Carangas, afterwards we continue until arriving to Sajama Nat. Park. We we’ll stop at different places on the way (having lunch-picnic in one), to spot Andean Goose, Tawny-throated Dotterel, Rufous-Bellied and Gray-breasted Seedsnipes, Plain-Breasted and Straight-billed Earthcreepers, Cordilleran Canastero and White-winged Cinclodes. We’ll enter the Nat. Park using the road to Sajama town until Tomarapi, probably finding Lesser Rheas, Andean, Ornate and Puna Tinamous, Darwin`s Nothura; Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, Brown-capped Tit-spinetail, D´Orbigny´s Chat-tyrant, Rufous-webbed Bush-Tyrant, Cinnamon-bellied, White-fronted and Puna Ground-Tyrants; White-winged Diuca-Finch, Puna Yellow-finch and Red-backed Sierra-finch. We will get a decent place to sleep and eat in the eco-tourist Lodge of Tomarapi, in middle of the Nat. Park, being able to hear at night Great Horned Owl. (4.500 m.a.s.l.)
 
Day 11: Birding at a sunrise that illuminates the immense snowy volcanoes: the beautiful and conical Sajama (6.550 mts, the highest pick of Bolivia) and the neighboring Pomerata and Parinacota (6.300 mts). Breakfast we’ll be served in the Lodge of Tomarapi. We’ll spend the day looking for the numerous and diverse fauna of this park: Vicuñas, Pumas, Andean Cat, Andean Fox, Vizcachas, Tuco-tuco Rodents, Hairy Andean Armadillo and the many birds in Huayña Khota Lagoon and on the hillsides of the volcanoes, among those are common species don't named before as: Neotropic Cormorant, Cattle Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Black-faced Ibis, Mountain Caracara, Peregrine Falcon, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Burrowing Owl, Band-winged Nightjar, Tufted Tit-tyrant, Rufous-napped and Cinereous Ground-Tyrants, Grassland Yellow-Finch and many migratory ones. But also Andean and James’s Flamingos; Crested and Ruddy Duck, Wilson's Phalarope, Silvery Grebe, Giant and Horned Coots; Puna Snipe. Rest in the Lodge after lunch (suggested quinoa soup and Llama steak). Later on we will be able to bathe in hot springs at the foot of the volcano and hike the hillsides finding Rufous-Bellied Seedsnipes, White throated Sierra-finch, Thick-billed Siskin and other birds that are more common in higher slopes (depending the time of the year). Dinner and night spend in Tomarapi.

Day 12: Something to say about breakfast: the low atmospheric pressure does not help to get the scolding coffee of your dreams and needs there, because it boils at only 80°C, so if you want to warm up,..  go to boil an egg in the geysers. We go searching for the best preserved and more colorful chullpas of Bolivia. Again northwards, to have lunch in Curahuara de Carangas. On the way to Urmiri we will see  Darwin's Nothura, Spot-winged Pigeon, Common Miner, Plain-mantled Tit-spinetail, Cream-breasted and Puna Canasteros, Spot-billed Ground-Tyrant, Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant, Andean Swallow, Correndera Pipit, Bright-rumped Yellow-Finch and Peruvian Sierra-finch. At the end from the day we’ll reach the hot springs of Urmiri. Being at lower height and warmer temperatures, this is the best oppertunity to recover from the harsh Puna. The guests can enjoy the gardens, the thermal cascade and the sauna perfumed with eucalyptuses or pine. Dinner and night spend in the Hotel and Spa Urmiri, where rooms are provided with private hot pool, herbal bath and massages at request (3500 m.a.s.l.).

Day 13: Breakfast in the hotel, well deserved rest in the thermal baths and quick review of the birds list and experiences lived until today. All these done, we depart to Titicaca Lake. The shore offers several spots to find the endemic Titicaca Grebe that can be seen while riding the traditional Uru boats. It was on this lake where builders off the Uru culture that lives on the totora reeds islands, known for their reed boats, constructed Ra Two for the Norwegian Thor Heyerdhal. After lunch in Huatajata, we go to the warm valley of Sorata where we will look for the endemic Berlepsh`s Canastero which denotes their presence with their voluminous sticky nests; and the spectacular endemic Black-hooded Sunbeam, this last in the gardens and forests of Eucalyptus. Dinner and overnight in restaurant and bungalows of Altai Oasis. (2.650 m.a.s.l.)

Day 14: Breakfast and search for our endemic birds in Altai Oasis and nearby places like the slopes of Illampu (6.370 m.a.s.l.). Other possibilities are White-throated Hawk, Variable Hawk, Andean Snipe, Andean Parakeet, White-vented Violetear, Green-tailed Trainbearer, White-bellied Woodstar, Puna Thistletail, Black-throated Flowerpiercer, Peruvian Sierra-finch among others. Lunch and rest in Altai Oasis. Afterwards we go back to Titicaca Lake while enjoying the splendid views to the snow capped Cordillera Central, birds that we already mentioned before and the Aymara people life stile. Ones in La Paz, we go to the Witches Market (mysterious place where you can get herbs to cure everything or amulets for your secrets wishes, offerings to Pachamama, etc.) near Sagarnaga street. Nearby is a restaurant stuffed with a lot of antics, which makes it very interesting and also an excellent setting to enjoy a farewell drink, while sharing our birds lists and lasts comments about the trip (3.800 m.a.s.l.).