Every detail of this trip was very thoughtfully curated, from pick up at airport to departure, and everything in between. Great food and accommodations, kind and warm people involved in our journey, particularly the drivers and additional guides. Johnnier was an expert, who made every effort to ensure we all got on the skulking birds before moving on, providing moments for bird photo opps, and that we were comfortable throughout the entire trip. Also worthy of note for birders: the target list advertised for the trip was real!!! (Genuine marketing matters☺️) This was an unforgettable birding and cultural experience through the diverse landscape of the Caribbean coast and mountains with over 240 species observed. I will definitely be a repeat customer and highly recommend the Andean Birder to anyone interested in birding Colombia.

This was my third trip with Johnnier. The trip route was well thoughtout. The logistics were smooth. The accomodations were excellent and convienently located for our birding stops. The meals were sensational. Most important, Johnnier and the local guides provided great experiences seeing the target birds and enjoying the habitat. Looking forward to my next trip to Columbia.

Our trip with The Andean Birders centred on the Cauca valley north of Cali and visited a range of different habitats from lowland tropical forests to the Andean paramo at over 4000 metres elevation. Johnnier was an outstanding guide with an incredible knowledge of the region’s avifauna and its natural history. Lodges and hotels were all superbly chosen and the organisation and communication throughout was faultless. This was a wonderful trip with just shy of 450 bird species recorded in just two weeks; I would not hesitate to recommend The Andean Birders to anyone considering a birding tour in Colombia.

This was a fabulous tour -- Johnnier is an outstanding bird guide, almost supernaturally good at finding and identifying birds including many endemics and local rarities. His natural history knowledge other than birds was thorough. The locations we visited were terrific, as were the local guides and drivers Johnnier enlisted. One of us had a bad knee, but Johnnier did an excellent job accommodating this constraint. We recommend him without any reservations, and will probably make nuisances of ourselves extolling his virtues to our birder friends!

This 12 day/11 night 'Andean Essentials' birding trip was advertised as a photo tour so I was hesitant to join but am REALLY happy I did. No-one in the group was a professional photographer; in fact not everyone even had a camera, but because alot of the birding happened at very photographer friendly sites (ie fruit or hummer feeders, or feeding stations for Antpittas/insectivores), we were able to get good photos AND spend time truly studying and learning to identify the different species. We also did many walks for specific species not attracted to feeders. The itinerary focused on visiting sites with high likelihoods for endemics and/or rare species, as well as maximizing species seen. Johnnier happily altered our itinerary to visit a relatively new location with guaranteed oilbird sightings - no mean feat given our packed schedule. Overall, I saw 280 species on the trip (not as much as the trip total, as I often wandered off to check out flowers or butterflies). In addition to seeing 7 Antpittas species, 30+ tanager species, 35+ hummer species, I was delighted to add White-tipped Sicklebill and Ocellated Tapaculo and of course the Oilbird to my growing list of lifers, during this tour. A totally worthwhile trip! Overall, the transport vehicle and accommodations were very comfortable and the food was great. In addition to being a fantastic tour coordinator, and excellent host who is attentive to his clients' needs (...Thanks for the surprise birthday cake!!!), Johnnier is an excellent birder and knows the best places to go for them. I would highly recommend Andean Birder to host your next birding tour!