Reserva Rio Blanco

The reserve covers around four and a half thousand hectares of Andean cloud forest between roughly 2,100 and 3,700 metres, and it exists because Manizales gets its drinking water from these slopes - the municipal water company owns and protects it, which is a straightforward case of a city paying for a forest because the forest is the waterworks. For birders it is among the best-known sites in Colombia, with something over three hundred and sixty species recorded, and it is particularly known for antpittas: several species, normally almost impossible to see, come to feeding stations where wardens call them by name, a practice developed at reserves in this region. Numbers are limited and visits must be booked in advance.

What you actually see

• Cloud forest owned by a water company - protecting the city's catchment.
• Over three hundred and sixty bird species - recorded on the reserve.
• Antpittas coming to called feeding stations - species otherwise near-invisible.
• Booking required - numbers are strictly limited.

When to go

December to March and July to August; early morning for birds. A full day.

Honest expectations

Visits must be booked in advance and capacity is small - you cannot turn up. Antpitta feeding is a managed practice and some birders object to it in principle. It is cold and wet. Early starts are the norm.

Nearby

Manizales is west; Los Nevados is east.