Photograph of Harpy Eagle

Harpy Eagle by Chris Townend.

EASTERN VENEZUELA

Best Wildlife in Eastern Venezuela

Mammals
Red Howler and Weeping Capuchin Monkeys. Also a chance of (Pale-throated) Three-toed Sloth and Red-rumped Agouti.

Birds
Harpy Eagle, Red-and-green Macaw, American Flamingo, Scarlet Ibis, Hoatzin, Channel-billed and Red-billed (White-throated) Toucans, Oilbird, Guianan Cock-of-the-rock, Capuchinbird, White-plumed Antbird, Crimson and Ruby Topazes, Black-eared Fairy, Pompadour, Purple-breasted and Spangled Cotingas, Bearded and White Bellbirds, Brown, Great, Green-tailed, Paradise, Rufous-tailed and Yellow-billed Jacamars, Paradise Tanager, Musician Wren, trogons, Magnificent Frigatebird, (American) Swallow-tailed Kite, endemics including Venezuelan (Maroon-faced) Parakeet, Green-tailed Emerald, Scissor-tailed Hummingbird, Venezuelan Sylph, Black-dotted (White-bellied) Piculet, White-throated Barbtail, Handsome Fruiteater, Paria (Yellow-faced) Redstart, Grey-headed Warbler and Venezuelan Flowerpiercer, near-endemics (mostly pan-tepui, of which over 20 out of over 30 are possible) such as Rufous Crab Hawk, Fiery-shouldered and Tepui Parakeets, Blue-cheeked Parrot, Tepui Swift, Rufous-breasted and White-tailed Sabrewings, Tepui Goldenthroat, Peacock Coquette, Buffy Hummingbird, Velvet-browed Brilliant, Guianan Puffbird, Tepui Spinetail, Roraiman Barbtail, Tepui Foliage-gleaner, Black-throated and Streak-backed Antshrikes, Roraiman Antwren, Tepui Antpitta, Black-fronted and Chapman’s Tyrannulets, Ruddy Tody Flycatcher, Red-banded Fuiteater, Rose-collared Piha, Crimson-hooded, Olive, Orange-bellied (Tepui) and Scarlet-horned Manakins, Tepui Greenlet, Cayenne Jay, Flutist Wren, Tepui Whitestart, Tepui (Two-banded) Warbler, Olive-backed Tanager, Vermilion Cardinal, Tepui Brush Finch, Greater Flowerpiercer, Golden-tufted Mountain Grackle, and Golden-sided and Trinidad Euphonias, as well as Horned Screamer, Muscovy Duck, White-cheeked Pintail, Little and Rufous-vented Chachalacas, Black Curassow, Marail and Spix’s Guans, Brown Booby, Brown Pelican, Anhinga, Capped Heron, Reddish Egret, Green Ibis, King Vulture, Slender-billed Kite, hawks including White, Ornate Hawk Eagle, Laughing Falcon, Grey-necked Wood-Rail, Limpkin, shorebirds including Black-necked Stilt and Wattled Jacana, Black Skimmer, pigeons, doves, Chestnut-fronted and Red-shouldered Macaws, parakeets such as Painted, parrots including Orange-winged, Red-fan and Yellow-shouldered, Squirrel Cuckoo, Burrowing Owl, White-tailed Goldenthroat, Long-billed Starthroat, Amethyst Woodstar, all five South American kingfishers, puffbirds including Two-banded and Russet-throated, Swallow-wing, Black-spotted Barbet, Black-necked and Green Aracaris, Chestnut-tipped, Groove-billed and Guianan Toucanets, woodpeckers, woodcreepers, antshrikes, antwrens, antbirds including Ferruginous-backed, Rufous-throated and White-browed, Slate-crowned Antpitta, tyrannulets, Short-tailed Pygmy Tyrant (the smallest passerine in the world along with Black-capped Pygmy Tyrant), tody-tyrants, tody-flycatchers including Painted and Spotted, flycatchers such as Cliff and Fork-tailed, Sharpbill, Screaming Piha, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Golden-headed Manakin, Cinnamon Neopipo (Tyrant Manakin), tityras, becards, Slaty-capped Shrike Vireo, Inca Jay, wrens, Long-billed Gnatwren, Tropical Gnatcatcher, Black-capped Donacobius, Rufous-brown Solitaire, thrushes, Golden Warbler, Slate-throated Whitestart, Black-faced and Blue Dacnises, Fulvous Shrike Tanager, Glaucous, Spotted, Swallow and Turquoise Tanagers, honeycreepers, Red-capped Cardinal, Crested and Green Oropendolas, Venezuelan Troupial, Oriole and Yellow-hooded Blackbirds, and euphonias. Also a chance of Blue-and-yellow Macaw, White-tipped Quetzal, Rose-breasted Chat and Blue-backed Tanager.

Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish
A chance of Spectacled Caiman.

Other Natural Wonders in Eastern Venezuela

Angel Falls
The highest waterfall in the world flows off the Auyan-Tepui, dropping a total of almost a kilometer (979 m, 3212 ft), including 807 m (2648 ft) in one go; so high, most of the water dissipates or evaporates before reaching the river below. It is usually at its best between May and September.

Tepuis
A few of about a hundred of the flat-topped, almost sheer-sided, sandstone mesas are visible from the Gran Sabana above La Escalera. They rise as high as 2772 m (9094 ft) at Roraima on the Venezuela-Brazil-Guyana borders.

Best Sites for Wildlife in Eastern Venezuela

Best Times for Wildlife in Eastern Venezuela

There are no strict dry and wet seasons and it may rain at any time of the year but it is usually drier between October and April and this is the best time to look for birds, especially November to March. Angel Falls however is usually at its best between May and September, and may be little more than a comparative trickle at other times of the year.

Recommended Books etc. for Eastern Venezuela

Field Guide to the Birds of Venezuela by S Hilty. Helm, 2002.

Birds of South America: Non-Passerines by J R Roderiguez Mata et al. Harper Collins, 2006.

The Birds of South America: Passerines by R S Ridgely and G Tudor. University of Texas Press, 1989 and 1994 (Two volumes).

Birds of Northern South America by R Restall, C Rodner and M Lentino. Helm, 2006 (Two volumes).

Birding in Venezuela by M L Goodwin. Lynx Edicions, 2003 (Fifth Edition).

Wild Mammals of Venezuela by R D Lord. Armitano Editores, 2000.

Mammals of South America by R D Lord. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007.

Trip Reports for Eastern Venezuela

Many trip reports, some for Eastern Venezuela, are posted on the websites listed here. On some of these websites some reports are independent and some are posted by tour companies who organize tours to Eastern Venezuela. These tour companies and others also post their own reports on their websites, which are listed under 'Some Organized Tours to Eastern Venezuela' below.

Local Guides and Tours in Eastern Venezuela

The costs of organized tours partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ. If you are travelling independently, employing such local guides will greatly increase your chances of seeing the wildlife you wish to see.

Accommodation in Eastern Venezuela


Some Organized Tours to Eastern Venezuela

There are many tour companies who organize tours to see mammals, birds, other wildlife and other natural wonders. The cost of these tours vary considerably according to such variables as the airlines used, the number of days the tours last, the number of sites visited, the number of people in the group (an important consideration if you wish to see such wildlife as rainforest mammals and birds), the number of tour leaders, the standard of accommodation and transport, and the percentage profit the company hopes to make. Generally, where the number of days tours last and the number of sites visited are similar, the cheapest tours are those that use the cheapest airlines, accommodation and local transport, that have the largest groups with the least number of leaders, and that make the least amount of profit. The most expensive tours tend to be those which are exceptionally long, use the most expensive accommodation (ridiculously lavish in some cases, even for single nights) and which make the most profit. Some tour costs partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ.

While tour companies organize tours with set itineraries many also organize custom tours for individuals and private groups who instead of taking a tour with a set itinerary want to follow their own itinerary to suit their own personal tastes, whether it be mammals, birds, other wildlife, other natural wonders or even man-made attractions, or a mixture of them all. Many organized tours with set itineraries are also fast-paced and target as many species as possible, whether they are mammals, birds or other wildlife or everything, which usually leaves little time to enjoy the best sites and individual species, but on a custom tour those taking part can specify the pace and the sites and species they wish to concentrate on. Custom tours also suit people who like to travel with people they already know, rather than with a group of strangers, and people with partners with different interests. Individuals and small groups will almost certainly have to pay more than the price of an organized tour with a set itinerary but a large group of friends may be able to travel for less than the price quoted for a set tour.

Tour companies who are running organized tours to Eastern Venezuela in the next couple of years include the following. Many of these also offer custom tours.