Cuba Birding 10 Day Tour

Day - 1 Soroa Area

In the morning we will drive from Havana to Soroa (a 2-hour drive) to visit the major attraction: The Orquideario, an orchid garden, one of the world’s largest, that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here we will find many endemic birds, such as Fernandina's Flicker and the Antillean Palm Swift. Later we will visit the Maravillas de Soroa, a trail with lots of interesting birds, including the Cuban Trogon. It is a good opportunity to see the Cuban Grassquit and the Cuban Pygmy Owl.

We will find many Cuban Toddies calling in the forest, tiny jewels that combine wonderful green, pink and red colors. The Black-throated Blue Warbler is a migrant easy to find in the trees. The Red-legged Honey Creeper is a noisy bird that moves in flocks looking for food in flowers and ripe fruits; breeding males are a beautiful combination of blue, black, and red. The Indigo Bunting is a rare sighting, but the striking Stripe-headed Tanager, or Western Spindalis, is quite common. To find the White-eyed Vireo, we will follow its melodious call. The Key West Quail-Dove is a rare bird that will require a careful search. Zenaida Doves are easy to observe, and can even be seen in flocks in cultivated fields. It is likely that we will also see the Cuban Vireo, an endemic species. We will also see the Cork Palm (Microcycas calocoma), considered a living fossil, in its natural setting.

Accommodations: We will have breakfast and dinner in a casa particular, where we will stay for the night. Optional activities: walking to Salto del Arco Iris, a waterfall with connecting trails, including a 2.5 km hike to reach the mountaintop and panoramic views. The Orquideario offers guided tours.

Day 2 - La Güira National Park

At 7:00 am we leave for La Güira National Park. (1 hour from Viñales). Here Great-Lizard Cuckoos scuttle along the branches, looking for lizards and tree frogs, in a beautiful park-like setting. This former estate has some standing colonial buildings, and its woodland trails echo with the song of the beautiful Cuban Trogon, Cuba's national bird, so chosen because it displays the colors. of the Cuban flag in its plumage. We can find the West Indian Woodpecker, Giant Kingbird, Cuban Grassquit, Olive-capped Warbler, Cape May Warbler and many others. We will also visit Cueva de los Portales, a limestone cave that is interesting from both a geological and historical point of view: it was the headquarters of Che Guevara during the Cuban missile crisis and became a national monument. Around the cave it is possible to hear the beautiful voice of the Cuban Solitaire. We will visit the Maravillas de Viñales, a wonderful trail with lot of interesting birds — Gundlach's Hawk, Cuban Bullfinch, Greater Antillean Oriole, Yellow-headed Warbler and many others.

Accommodations: We will have breakfast, dinner and overnight in a Viñales area at a casa particular that serves excellent traditional Cuban food.

Day 3, 4, 5, 6 - Zapata area

Departure at 7:00 a.m. for trip to Zapata National Park, a 4-hour drive from Viñales Valley. The trip will take several hours of driving, but we will break up the journey with a number of stops. Our destination is the fabled Zapata Swamp, which was declared a biosphere preserve in 2000 and a Ramsar site in 2001. It covers an area of 628,171 hectares and is the largest and best-conserved
wetland in Cuba and the Caribbean. We’ll spend the afternoon birdwatching in Zapata (Bermejas and Soplillar areas), where we can find the Zapata Sparrow, Zapata Wren, Cuban Emerald, Bee Hummingbird, Cuban Trogon, Cuban Tody and many others.

We will explore the Ondones part of the Zapata Peninsula, renowned as the largest marsh in the insular Caribbean. We will travel along a road in the Fauna Reserve that makes its way through savannas, mangrove thickets and sub-tropical forests.

This 91-thousand-acre salt marsh is one of the most important flyways for migratory birds in the northern Caribbean. The mud flats support large numbers of Egrets, Whistling Ducks and shorebirds as well as the Cuban Black Hawk, Clapper Rail and Osprey. In the afternoon, we will observe forest birds and some interesting shorebirds in the Palpite zone: Blue-headed Quail-Dove, Key West Quail-Dove, Cuban Parrot, Great Lizard-Cuckoo, Smooth-billed Ani, Bare-legged Owl, Cuban Pygmy-Owl, Cuban Emerald, Bee Hummingbird, Cuban Trogon, Cuban Tody, Cuban Crow and many others.

Accommodations: We will have breakfast, dinner and overnight in a casa particular. Optional activities: snorkeling, visit to the Bay of Pigs museum.

Days 7, 8 - the Sierra de Najasa, La Belen

Visit the Sierra de Najasa, which encompasses the protected reserve of La Belen where one finds an area of unspoiled lowland with a great diversity of plant life. This is the only place to see the rare Cuban Palm Crow and the easiest place to see the endangered Giant Kingbird, which is now endemic to Cuba, and the Plain Pigeon. Other species in this area include Cuban Parakeet, Fernandina's Flicker, Cuban and Yellow-faced Grassquits, Gundlach's Hawk and wintering warblers, as well as the West Indian Whistling-Duck. We might also see a barn owl at the rancho.

Accommodations: We will have breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner and overnight at Rancho La Belen or another bed & breakfast. Optional activities: horseback riding, swimming in the pool.

Days 8 and 9 - Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo

Early in the morning we will drive to Cayo Coco (a 3-hour trip), making some stops along the way. We’ll settle into our accommodation and set out in the late afternoon to look for the Zapata Sparrow (which is even easier to observe here than in the Zapata Swamp). We’ll see large numbers of Greater Flamingo, the Oriente Warbler, the Cuban Gnatcatcher, the Piping Plover, Black-Bellied Plover, Sanderlings, and other shorebirds, West Indian Whistling-Duck, Cuban Black-Hawk and perhaps a Gundlach’s Hawk. The Bahama Mockingbird and Thick-Billed Vireo are also found in this region of Cuba.

Accommodations: All-inclusive resort/hotel for birding and relaxing at the beach.

Day 10 - Return to Havana early in the morning

7:00 am transfer to Havana Airport or a hotel for extension of your trip. This is an 7 hour drive from Camagüey with stop for lunch in Santa Clara.

Notes

For more information about pricing or anything else, please contact me.

50% deposit when booking and balance 1 month prior to departure. If less than 1 month to departure full payment. Single supplement: US $425.

Due to currency fluctuations and fuel cost we reserve the right to adjust any pricing prior to departure.

Included in the price: all road transportation, in a comfortable air-conditioned car with driver/guide, gasoline, lodging and meals.

Not included: lunch and park fees. All excursions that are described in the above program have a specialized focus on bird watching.

We recommend that you change money on your arrival to the airport. It will be useful to have CUC$300 for extra meals, liquids, beer, tips and anything else. We request a 50% deposit when booking and the balance 1 month prior to departure. If you are booking less than 1 month to departure, full payment is requested.