Araucana Lodge: Colombia's Best Birding Lodge?
For the new series of The Birders Show in Valle del Cauca, Colombia, we visited Araucana Lodge on the road from Cali to the Pacific Ocean. This stunning bird lodge is easily one of Colombia's best and most luxurious birding hotels.
In the 1950s, Christopher Calonje’s grandparents purchased 30 hectares of land in the Colombian Western Andes, not far from Cali. They built a Finca and named it La Araucana as a tribute to his grandmother’s Chilean roots. Many years later, the newly-christened Araucana Lodge plays host to groups of visiting birders, enchanted by the area’s remarkable biodiversity and the lodge’s excellent access to some of the best birding on the continent.
With ten luxurious rooms and space for over 20 guests, Araucana has fast become one of Colombia’s top birding lodges. I would go so far as to say that, in terms of comfort and luxury, it’s unbeatable for Colombia. There may be lodges with a bigger bird list, but there’s nowhere that so perfectly combines excellent birding with comfort, luxury, and immaculate attention to detail.
One thing I especially loved about Araucana was their farm-to-table philosophy. They grow over 30 products on the property that find their way onto the menu enjoyed by the guests. From organic coffee grown and harvested just meters from the front door to a well-stocked vegetable garden, you can be sure that a large part of your dish was produced on the property when you eat at Araucana. As a result, the freshness and natural taste of the dishes we enjoyed were second-to-none.
The location also plays a big part in Araucana’s popularity with birders. Cali is just an hour away, and the paradise birding sites at KM. 18 can be reached in 15 minutes. Doña Dora’s house on the old road to the Pacific (some of Colombia’s best birding, find out more here) is also an hour by road, while the lowland Pacific jungle paradise of San Cipriano is 90 minutes away. Even the Cauca River Valley dry forests of Sonso are just a couple of hours away. You honestly couldn’t ask for a more central or convenient location to explore the best that Valle del Cauca offers.
And how about the birding at Araucana? Well, as my co-host Diego likes to say, it’s “not too shabby” either! The fruit and hummingbird feeders are jam-packed with tanagers and hummingbirds and even host less common feeder birds like Green Jay and Lineated Woodpecker. Any birder could happily spend a few hours observing those feeders, and most would pick up a few lifers in the process. Birding the trails around the house can also be productive, with endemic species like Apical Flycatcher, Grayish Piculet, and Colombian Chachalaca relatively easy to spot. It would be a great spot to explore in the afternoon, after a morning birding at La Florida on KM> 18, for example.
Lineated Woodpecker at Araucana Lodge
In short, Araucana Lodge is one of my most recommended accommodation options for birders visiting Valle del Cauca. From the comfortable and well-appointed rooms to the friendly and efficient staff, it could hardly be better.
For more information, and to visit Araucana Lodge, check out their website here.
Don’t miss our full episode from Araucana Lodge, La Florida Birding, and Doña Dora below:
