Top 6 Tours in Yopal, Casanare Department

Reviewed By Robert K

On a previous trip to Colombia Shtid Tapasco had proven to be an excellent birding guide and a very pleasant fellow, so I asked him to be my guide again, for exploring his own region this time, the vast plains east of the Andes, in particular the province of Casanare. After an early morning flight to Yopal, capital of Casanare, I met Shtid with his brother Elkin and our driver Alex in the airport – for the rest of the trip I would have three guides for the price of one  We went straight for breakfast in town, and then hit the road to the Mata de Palma ranch about 100 miles from there. We saw plenty of scarlet ibis and other waterfowl on the way to the ranch, and as soon as we arrived, I saw a couple of spectacled parrotlets that had a nesting hole in a tree close to the main building. This was the place to be! We rode horses to the estuary, observing armadillos, capybaras and caracaras (and caracaras riding on capybaras!!), ate big lunches on the farm, and walked around the ponds. Now more than a year later I remember my excitement sneaking up to a pair of Orinoco goose, bit by bit, and finally snapping some close-range pictures… then seeing a tamandua climbing a tree… and finally taking multiple pictures of a great horned owl perfectly lit in the golden hour before dusk. Life can be good! From there we went to Monterrey, where I met Shtid and Elkin’s parents and aunt and took pictures of hummingbirds, tanagers, and orioles at the feeders in their yard. From the comfortable hotel in Monterrey we took day trips into the foothills of the Andes to pleasant little towns like Santa María and Taraumena. I got my first views of a scarlet-rumped toucanet and a yellow-tufted woodpecker in the outskirts of town, and of a whistling heron near the beautiful Zambo waterfalls; we were followed all the way, it seems, by a white-tailed trogon. My favorite bird encounter in that area, however, was probably on a visit to a small farm where it is easy to observe the beautiful wire-tailed manakin. The birds were very cooperative, so I took picture after picture at such close range that you can see the ticks near some of the birds’ eyes! The whole trip was only a week, but when I thought it was all over on the last night in Monterrey, the biggest surprise was yet to come. Shtid and Elkin told me their parents wanted to have me over for dinner, but when I arrived at their place, it turned out we were going to the restaurant nextdoor… where half of the town had gathered. My guides knew it had just been my birthday, so they were throwing me a surprise party with cake and… live llanero music. So THAT’s why half of town was there. Colombia never ceases to surprise me…