Many of the concerts are in elaborate churches. Photo: Bryan Bland
With more than 1400 bird species recorded to date Bolivia is one of the last undiscovered dream destinations for watching birds. This friendly country has a huge range of habitats from puna and salt pans in the high Andes to Amazonian forests and vast flooded grasslands in the lowlands with an equally dazzling avifauna.
Bolivia also hosts a largely undiscovered music festival. For about a hundred years from the late 17th century, great areas of the country’s eastern lowlands were effectively ruled by Jesuit missionaries. They brought local indigenous cultures together in mission towns, built elaborate churches, composed sacred music and taught their congregations to play and sing it. After the Jesuits were expelled from South America in 1767 their musical tradition was lost but in the 1980’s an ambitious project restored the surviving Bolivian missions, employing the techniques with which they had originally been built. The restorations lead to the discovery of lost archives of Bolivian baroque music. This in turn triggered the launch in 1996 of a biennial Festival of International Renaissance and American Baroque Music, during which international and Bolivian musicians perform a richly varied repertoire of period music in the seven mission churches which were granted World Heritage Status by UNESCO in 1992.
This new tour, an excitingly different addition to our Old World birds-and-music tours, combines the seventh Festival of International Renaissance and American Baroque Music in 2008 with birding in the diverse forests and savannahs around the peaceful historic towns in which the concerts are held. An extra day has been added in 2008 to allow Old World participants to relax at Buena Vista before the inaugural concert of the festival and towards the end of the tour there will be a brief trip to Los Volcanes, in the foothills of the Bolivian Andes, allowing us to see many new birds and the chance to relax (watching Andean Condors from our hammocks) in one of Bolivia’s most scenic wildlife refuges.
Day 1: Our trip begins this evening in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Night in Santa Cruz.
Day 2: After the Sunbird group arrives in Santa Cruz we’ll begin birding straightaway in the savannahs which surround the Viru Viru airport. Here we will look for Long-winged Harrier, Burrowing Owl, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Cattle Tyrant, Wedge-tailed Grassfinch, Grassland Sparrow and Chopi Blackbird. We may hear Red-winged and Small-billed Tinamous and possibly find two of the largest and most extraordinary birds in South America, Red-legged Seriema and Greater Rhea. We’ll then head for Buena Vista, situated at the northern edge of the Amboró national park, a journey of around two hours. In the late afternoon we’ll walk towards the nearby river to watch Chestnut-fronted Macaws fly in to roost. Here we may also see Amazonian and Russet-backed Oropendolas, Swallow-tailed Kites, White-eyed and Dusky-headed Parakeets and Ringed Kingfishers, among many other species. Night in Buena Vista.
Day 3: Early this morning we’ll visit the hides at a small marsh on the outskirts of Buena Vista. Here we will look for Hoatzin, Greater Ani, Southern Screamer, Green Ibis, Black-capped Donacobius (the Bolivian white-browed form), Rufous-sided Crake and White-tailed Goldenthroat. Among the Lesser Seedfinches we may find the rare Great-billed Seedfinch. Brown-throated Three-toed Sloths are also often seen here. By mid morning we will make our way back to Santa Cruz. After lunch and a siesta we’ll visit cultural sites in Santa Cruz, keeping our eyes open in the city for Short-tailed Swift, Yellow-tufted Woodpecker, Vermilion Flycatcher, Grey-breasted Martin, Purple-throated Euphonia, Tropical Parula and Saffron Finch. In the evening we’ll attend our first concert of the Festival. A typical offering might be The Dorian Consort (Switzerland): Bach Brandenburg Concerto no 5 and Suite no 2, Martin Pavana Couleur du Temps, and the anonymous Sonata Chiquitana VIII. Night in Santa Cruz.
Day 4: Today we leave Santa Cruz for the mission towns of Chiquitanía. We’ll head northeast towards the Río Grande where we’ll stop to look for Collared Plover, Black Skimmer, Straight-billed Woodcreeper, Double-collared Seedeater and many other species. By late morning we’ll see a significant change in the vegetation as we reach the edge of the Brazilian Shield, composed of the oldest rocks in South America. Around lunchtime we’ll reach the town of San Javier where we’ll visit the church, one of the oldest and best preserved of the region, and by mid afternoon we’ll be in the beautiful town of Concepción where in the evening we’ll attend a concert in the wonderfully restored church. In 2006 the French group Doulce Mémoire provided an enchanting evening of 16th century song, music, and dance. Night in Concepción.
Day 5: This morning we’ll look for birds close to Concepción, focusing on the wooded savannahs known locally as Cerrado. Here we’ll look for Cerrado specialities such as White-eared Puffbird, Collared Crescentchest, White-rumped and White-banded Tanagers. We should also see open-country birds such as Toco Toucan, White Woodpecker, Narrow-billed Woodcreeper, Rufous-browed Peppershrike and Chalk-browed Mockingbird. By mid-morning, just when bird activity is tailing off, it will be time for another concert. In the afternoon we’ll visit the mission museum in Concepción and explore local artesan workshops, then in the evening we’ll again attend a concert in the church which, in the past, has included Capilla del Sol (Argentina) performing works by Fernández Blasco, de Herrera, de Orejón y Aparicio, de la Mota, Zipoli, and Cerruti. Night in Concepción.
Day 6: Today we’ll set out early for San Ignacio. We’ll break up the approximately four-hour journey with stops to look for birds in roadside savannahs, forests and wetlands and we’ll arrive in San Ignacio for a late lunch. The afternoon will be spent birding around the lake which is a short walk from the central square and in the evening we’ll attend a festival concert in the church, where previously Orquesta Sinfónica Juveníl de Santa Cruz de la Sierra has delighted audiences with music by Handel, Bach, Frescobaldi, and Mozart. Night in San Ignacio.
Day 7: Today will be a relaxed one, largely devoted to the history of the beautiful missions, although we’ll keep our eyes and ears open for birds along the way and may encounter some species associated with more humid forests such as Black-throated Mango, Black-throated Antbird, Palm Tanager and Yellow-rumped Cacique. We’ll visit the delightful historic mission churches of Santa Ana, San Rafael, and San Miguel, and perhaps hear their local orchestras and choirs rehearsing. In the evening we’ll attend a festival concert in the church of San Ignacio. Night in San Ignacio.
Day 8: The region of San Ignacio is alive with birds and we’ll spend the morning looking for such colourful locals as the beautiful Blue-and-Yellow and Golden-collared Macaws, and we’ll make an effort to catch up with any savannah and dry forest species that have eluded us so far. As usual, when the birds become less active we’ll attend an 11:00a.m. concert. In the afternoon we’ll make the journey back to Concepción before attending a festival concert there in the evening. Night in Concepción.
Day 9: After breakfast we’ll travel back to Santa Cruz, possibly taking in a concert at San Javier, and in the evening we’ll attend another festival concert which in previous years has included music by Vivaldi, Paradies, and Bach. Night in Santa Cruz.
Day 10: Early this morning we’ll head for the botanic garden outside Santa Cruz, which includes over 100 hectares of native dry forests. First we’ll visit a small lake which is home to Least Grebe, Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Wattled Jacana, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Yellow-chinned Spinetail and Red-capped Cardinal. The light forest around the lake is often noisy with Yellow-chevroned Parakeets, Blue-winged Parrotlets, Thrush-like Wrens and Rufous Horneros. Once in the tall Chiquitano dry forest we may see many birds including Green-cheeked Parakeet, Buff-bellied Hermit, White-wedged Piculet, Bolivian Slaty Antshrike and Fawn-breasted Wren. With luck we may hear Brown Capuchin and Dusky Titi Monkeys or see a family of Silvery Marmosets. To the east of the botanic garden lies a patch of Chacoan thornscrub where we’ll look for Gilded Sapphire, Red-billed Scythebill, White-bellied and White-crested Tyrannulets, Mato Grosso Antbird and the delightful Stripe-backed Antbird. We’ll return to Santa Cruz around lunchtime for an afternoon at rest and in the evening will attend another festival concert in the San Roque church. Outstanding at the 2004 festival was Florilegium (UK) with Bolivian soloists: Zipoli Beatus Vir plus a series of anonymous but exciting works recently discovered. This programme was issued as a CD and a DVD by Channel Classics ‘Bolivian Baroque’ (ccs sa 22105). It proved so popular that a second volume was released in 2006 (ccs sa 24806). Night in Santa Cruz.
Day 11: This morning we’ll transfer to Los Volcanes, an exceptional lodge in the foothills of the Andes located at 3000 feet on the southern boundary of the stunningly dramatic and beautiful Amboró National Park ‘one of the last untouched wildernesses’. This hosts one of the richest and most diversified concentrations of bird species on the planet and has been called ‘the best birdwatching spot on earth’ hosting species from humid and dry forests from both the lowlands and the Andes. Many species such as Mitred Parakeet, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Plain Antvireo, Black-capped Antwren, Yellow-Olive Flycatcher, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Two-banded Warbler, Black-goggled Tanager, and Plush-crested Jay are generally easy to observe, though some shy specialties such as Bolivian Recurvebill, Southern White-crowned Tapaculo, Slaty Gnateater, and Short-tailed Antthrush are likely to prove more difficult. Night in Los Volcanes.
Day 12: We’ll spend the whole day in Los Volcanes exploring the excellent trails at the lodge, enjoying good food, and relaxing to the sounds of Turquoise-fronted Parrots, Channel-billed Toucans, and Dusky Green Oropendolas. The lodge is surrounded by impressive mountains, deep canyons and wonderful forests, and offers the chance to swing in a hammock, with Andean Condors, King Vultures and Black-chested Buzzard-Eagles circling overhead, or take a dip in a stream while Planalto Hermits and Fork-tailed Woodnymphs feed on riverside flowers. Night in Los Volcanes.
Day 13: This morning we will take a final look at the birds of Los Volcanes before returning to Santa CruzThere’ll be a chance to relax at the hotel or to carry on birding before we attend the final performance of the festival, which in 2006 was an opera featuring an encounter between St Ignatius of Loyola and the devil (a brilliant production). Night in Santa Cruz.
Day 14: The tour concludes this morning in Santa Cruz.
Updated: 02 February 2007
Prices
- 2008 price about $5,160
- Single Occupancy Supplement $310
Notes
This tour is limited to 12 participants with two leaders. Both leaders will accompany the group irrespective of group size.
The most convenient overnight flights from the U.S. arrive in Santa Cruz in the morning. Participants who wish to arrive the day before the tour begins should contact the WINGS office for assistance. Single rooms may not be available during our two nights at Los Volcanes.
This tour is organized by our British company, Sunbird.