COJIMIES and MANABI
Pacific coast
Beach, mangroves and wetlands
Cocomar Resort
A small but beautifully designed private resort of 12 stand alone holiday houses located between Perdernales and Cojimies. These beach front properties are in a secure compound with three swimming pools and direct access to the beach. The Airbnb house I rented was fabulous and the sunsets were breathtaking.
This was my first trip with my highly recommended guide Anderson Garcia who I found through an Ecuador vlog. He picked me up from Quito in his truck and we drove four hours west to the Pacific coast as a start to our birding adventure.
Hilarious, enthusiastic and incredibly knowledgeable for a 23 year old, he was brilliant company for what ended up being nine days together on and off. Crazy driver and massive foodie too but that was fine with me (takes one to know one). My whole trip wouldn't have been the same without him so if you go birding in northern Ecuador, get in touch with him:
+593 990 785026
Isla Júpiter, Isla de Portete and Isla Liberte
Luis took us out on his boat to visit three islands and skirt the mangroves looking for great birds and wildlife. He dug fresh conchas out of the mangrove mud and prepped them with salt and lime juice. Anderson was bullied into trying them by me as you couldn't pay me enough to do it. I haven't laughed so much in years.
Isla Liberte was just a beautiful stretch of white sand with well-camouflaged semi-palmated plovers and sandpipers skitting about in the haze. A great place for a warm bath swim.
Mache-Chindul reserve
Fantastic mangrove side channels led us inland to the Mache-Chindul reserve. Every type of heron, Roseate Spoonbills, Masked Water Tyrants, elusive Uniform and White-throated Crakes, Kingfishers, Frigatebirds and even Turkey Vultures watched on as we chugged past in our boat.
Coast road south
We screeched to a stop so many times along the coastal road back towards Pedernales as the grassland, palm plantations, wire fences and wetland ponds were a hive of activity. Red-breasted Meadowlarks were in full voice on wooden posts, Lineated Woodpeckers hammered out their territory calls and a stunning Pearl Kite was a frequent hunter on the roadside cables.
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