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Logistical
remarks at Based
on a trip to NE and NW Venezuela 25 dec 1997 - 13 jan 1998, and in general
on earlier trips to Venezuela For
information about the book e-mail Audubon de Venezuela
The
public transport system in Venezuela appears to be very efficient in its
own way. In fact there is a whole range of possibilities from intercity
buses to real taxis. Especially the very many por puesto minibuses
(sometimes small trucks or even jeeps) are very useful for the independent
birder without a car. With these, you can get nearly anywhere you like,
also early in the morning, and back again in the afternoon. For longer
distance transport shared taxis (por puesto taxis) are as useful as buses.
For very special birding spots libres (ordinary taxis) are useful and yet
not too expensive, but you will often see that that destination could be
reached by por puesto minibus or jeep as well. For the really long
distances, internal flights are a good and relatively cheap alternative.
We
payed 80 dollar a day for the 6 days that we (unexpectedly, due to a
sprained ankle) hired the car, a Ford Festiva, at Budget in Merida, and we
had to praise ourselves lucky that we could get one. In the 2 hours that I
was waiting and hoping for a car to come free, 5 other parties had to be
desappointed. Big potential business! The gas is still very cheap, 20
dollarcent a liter for 95 octane.
The
main reasons for not driving in the darkness are for us: 1.
unilluminated pedestrains and other obstacles, and badly illuminated other
cars, 2. big holes in the road, 3. possible personal threats, esp. in case
of car break-down.
Unused
phone cards of 5000 Bs were essential for phoning abroad in public phones
(spread all over the country now). But even then most phones didn't work
for these destinations. The best public phones for phoning abroad were
those of the airports. Otherwise visit a telephone office.
While
in Tabay, we phoned Mary Cruz in Merida about the possibility of an
excursion into the marsh area beyond Puerto Concha, at the border of Lago
Maracaibo. She thought it not a good idea to make this excursion for only
the two of us, for two reasons. First, the prize of a one-day excursion
with local boat, and transport from Merida, would be around US$ 250 for
the two of us, and second, she doesn't thrust even the area between El
Vigia and Pto. Concha enough to pass it with three persons only. The
minimum would be four persons plus the guide, costing around $ 70 per
person then. I would do it, they have seen the Northern Screamer every
time they went there, plus so many other nice birds.
As
the tunnel road from Merida to El Vigia is ready now, you can drive that
in just one hour, so going to Trujillo/Bocono form Merida might be done
also via El Vigia.
We
stayed in the motel El Jardin. The restaurant was closed, so we tried the
so-called Museo restaurant (not a museum, but with a collectioner as
owner; the name is La Casa Vieja). On the second night we dined at the
hotel/restaurant La Vega, and found the hotel guests there quieter than
what we would see that second night (Saturday night!) at El Jardin. A room
in La Vega is now 30 dollars (as we heard from the waiter), in El Jardin
17 dollars. Both have a nice location, El Jardin even more spacious and
greener than the other one.
A
beautiful park, but the worst road we ever had in Venezuela. For the
second day we made an arrangement via the park guard with the owner of the
small shop (cafetin) at the Laguna day park. He agreed driving us from the
day park up to the paramo for 12 dollars with his 4WD at 7 am and that we
would walk back (12 km). It would take him about 1 hour (one way). We made
the appointment that we would not go in case of rain, and it rained again
that morning. This is a destination to come back another time. In the
short spells of less or no rain on the first day we saw several nice birds
so easily, that this park must be very good indeed.
We
found the distance from the roundabout of Barinas to be rather over 30 km
than 28.3 km. About the same aberration holded for the other distances
mentioned on this page.
The
side road is barely visible when you go up, it goes sharpy to the left and
is very narrow. The house opposite is a good place to park your car in
front, also because the very friendly owner or his little son will come
out and point out the Lyre-tailed Nightjar for you. It was sitting some 20
m uphill from the house, right along the road (on the left, some 3 m high,
always on the same twigs he said), but even in full view scarcely
detectable on your own!
This
was a very good trail (or rather track) indeed. It starts some 200 m
before (when going up) restaurant Las Tapias, and goes for about 1.5 km to
a little farm. On top of a small truck we were brought to the farm - the
owner insisted on that - and walked back.
We
found the start of the trail easily but it forks several times then, and
we saw no birds. Our fork was on the steep side (too steep).
Although
an impressive site, we saw not much more than the Speckled Teal. Maybe the
site is just worn out by the overwhelming number of visitors each year.
We
birded the upper part of that footpath (rather a wide track) in the
morning just after the sun came up over the mountain, and saw several of
the paramo specialties. We slowly criss-crossed the vegetation beside the
track.
Car
rental is only on the airport. Taxi's all cost 2 dollar. We enjoyed the
Coromoto ice saloon very much and made an exception to our rule of not
eating ice in the Tropics, without harm. The restaurants in the market
hall (mercado principal) are nice and good.
We
found the birding to be good not only at the entrance but already before
that, from about the bridge where the recreation area begins. We saw many
hummers high in the trees at the park guards building, and these tiny
creatures might best be viewed at about eye level from the trail that goes
sideways up to the camping. The
por puesto jeeps that leave from Tabay's plaza (there is even a sign
indicating them) have a fixed, low rate (half a dollar) and start from
about 7 am. The plaza can easily be reached (from before dawn) with por
puesto minibuses from any spot between Merida and Tabay. The birds along
the trail seem to have grown accustomed to people - there were many
around, but all silent walkers with backpacks.
We
stayed at La Casona de Tabay. The hotel is good and the surroundings do
have some birds, esp. when you walk up the trails above the hotel
(starting to the right of the hotel, first follow the trail 50 m down and
then up again). The meals at the hotel were not so good, and we preferred
the veranda type restaurant called Juan Chocolate, of a Portuguese owner.
It is located about 0.5 km before the plaza of Tabay as seen from Merida.
We had there one of the best meals of the trip, and we had a nice chat
with the (serving) owner.
The
landing was hair-raising indeed (as promised in the Lonely Planet guide).
The plane has to make a sharp bend before landing between the mountain
walls. The departure was even more complicated, namely changed to the
airport of El Vigia, one hour by taxi (arranged by Avensa after a long
wait). The taxi ride was shockingly fast, but the driver was too friendly
(and too good) to tell him to drive a bit slower. We missed our connection
at Maiquetia, but Avensa arranged all things like hotel, food, and next
flight the following morning.
There
is not much forest left along the road, and we saw practically no birds
there (along the road).
The
La Azulita road proper, so the descent with all the hairpin bends, is one
of the most beautiful forest birding roads we know. We saw most species in
the upper 300 m stretch. But also further down the road is good birding,
and we found two interesting trails into the forest. One goes from about
the third or fourth hairpin bend as counted from above and scarcely
visible when driving by, the other is lower down and easier to find,
because indicated with a few sticks. The mist from the Maracaibo lake came
up at noon already.
The
site for the coquette was easy to find, but in the late afternoon the
hibiscus flowers are closed. There were other hummers around.
This
was one of the great surprises of our trip. We saw many 'full-tropical'
birds like parrots of all sizes, and toucans. The Maracaibo specialties
were easy to find. The road starts at the hotel/restaurant Rasomar (not
Rosamar), where the hotel part was not so good as the food. We choose the
middle back room because of the street noise of the Panamerican, but this
room was below our standard (not so much the prize however, 12 dollars).
The landlady is a kind woman who understands birders. Our car was savely
parked on the closed-off grounds of the owners, next to the hotel. The
road that starts here goes into the valley for about 7 km, but the last
500 m was inaccesible by car because of a broken-through gully. We parked
the car in front of the last house (asked permission, but later it
appeared that they were not home later in the morning, it may be safer to
choose the house 100 m lower down). From the end of the road, a mule trail
goes up through beautiful semi-natural surroundings (mainly shaded coffee
plantations between forested hillsides very nearby). Probably the trail
goes on for many kms, we did the first 2 km only. After about 1 km there
is a trail forking to the left and going into a side valley with even more
forest.
The
new road is ready and goes through about 4 tunnels. Total travel distance
by fast taxi was less than 1 hour.
A
nice birding road indeed, with several semi-natural water ponds along the
road. This is the Llanos alto however (the higher Llanos) so we think that
several of the wetter species are not to be expected here. From 10.30 to
16.30 h we saw some 70 species, with goodies like Dwarf Cuckoo, Horned
Screamer and a pair of King Vulture. These three did we see along the
newly asfalted side road that goes (about halfway Barinas and San
Silvestre) to the three farms, it first passes some oil business. The
original side road, that passes a wooded stream after c. 300 m (nice birds
there too), starts a bit further down towards San Silvestre. Just before
San Silvestre we saw a juvenal Bicolored Hawk near a nest in a huge tree
at some 150 m from the road, to the right. The bridge at San Sivestre was
also good birding. The restaurant is right after the bridge, to the left
(we had the local fish). At one of the corners of the wide plaza was a
shop with bananas and rolls.
The
forest above La Melenas is one of the finest cloud forests we have ever
seen. Of the two trails we first birded the one that goes right up into
the forest, and were rewarded with the endemic barbtail. Later in the
morning we also birded the trail forking off to the left before the proper
forest, through the plantation, and got the scissortail and the sabrewing
here. The whitestart was present along both trails. Apart from the
endemics we did not see very many other birds. The
road to Las Melenas is good! At the steepest spots there is grooved
concrete, and the rest has been neatly egalized. But we drove it by 4WD
truck, the local por puesto, irregularly leaving from the village below
(Rio Grande Arriba), mainly in the evening, but probably not every day. We
were so lucky to find this driver in Irapa with the help of a local taxi
driver. We had just checked in at the hotel of Irapa, but had to take the
only chance to go up to Las Melenas by going with this truck that same
late afternoon. We payed the driver 24 dollars for not only bringing us to
Las Melenas (he also arranged the lodging), but also for taking us back to
Irapa at a time we wanted. We passed the night (and got a nice meal) at
the house of Ramon and Raina Subero, one of the first houses to the left.
They gave us their own bedroom. When leaving with the driver at 4 p.m., we
payed them voluntarily 20 dollars (10.000 Bs) for the evening meal and the
lodging. (We had brought our own stuff for breakfast and lunch out in the
N.P.) They invited us to be their guests whenever we would come back, and
are willing to receive other guests.
Apart
from Las Melenas (see above) we stayed in hotel Maryoli, which is quite
clean and acceptable. They have no restaurant, but there is a restaurant
at entering the town (on the right). However, as we were there without a
car we tried a restaurant in the centre of this small and sleepy twon and
found it reasonable (a travel group was dining there too). It is along the
Calle Monagas, at some 100 m West of the main street. In
the morning after the Paria NP we birded the overgrown coconut groves near
the coast West of Irapa. They start at the end of Calle Anzoategui (the
one of the hotel), esp. after wading (10 cm of water) a small stream. We
had quite some birds (antbirds, hummers). We followed the trail for some 2
km and ended at a small beach with a view on some 500 fishing Brown
Pelicans. We
stayed for two nights in the Rio de Agua camp (arranged by phone from
Irapa), for 38 dollars per person per night (full board). Apart from some
nice wetland birds on this buffalo farm we also birded the small wooded
valley going up from the nearby village. The main attraction here were the
several leks of Lance-tailed Manakin. The Vuelta Larga farm/lodge was
fully booked long ahead (we phoned them too).
This
is a must indeed, and the trail opposite the entrance as well as the
forested road up to the cave were nice biridng too. Flash photography is
prohibited in the first (oilbird) part of the cave, but the birds still
seem rather disturbed. There is a constant screaming and clicking of them,
and we saw several flying nearby in the dim light of the guide's candle.
We walked up to the point where a small stream runs from a long side
tunnel, which is a bit after the narrow passage marking the end of the
oilbird part, and turned back with another party. We
reached Caripe from Carupano by private taxi, this costed us 50 dollars
(another asked even 80), the most expensive ride of this trip. No
minibuses were going this way on this national holiday (1 Jan.).
We
have been birding a day in a side valley of the valley to the village of
La Margarita. We got a taxi to bring us well beyond the bridge across the
Rio Colorado (a well-known point in this general area), to the point where
the road worsens a bit too much for an ordinary taxi. We made the
appointment that we would be taken back from that bridge at 4 p.m., and
had a connecting ride by 4WD truck to a track into a side valley to the
left, some 3 km beyond the bridge. This side valley was still rather
forested, and at the very end (after some 1.5 km) the trail (always keep
straight ahead) goes through some nice primary forest. We think this was
the proper habitat (acc. to the paper in Cotinga by Peter Boesman) for the
Grey-headed Warbler, but we saw none, but many other nice birds, like
Golden-crowned Warbler, Fork-tailed Woodnymph.
We
stayed in hotel Venezia. Not bad, very spacious rooms, but the water was
cut off during the night, and we birders were of course the first ones to
ask for it at 5.30 a.m. Venezia is 14 dollars a night an has a good
restaurant (we found it better than Saman across the road). A nice pizza
did we eat at the german-owned Centro Humboldt in the main street.
Maturin
is an expensive place (due to the oil boom). We first were in the hotel
Friuli (41 dollars) but changed the day after to the Colonial (about 55
dollars) because the room at Friuli was too cold (central airco). Also,
Colonial has a better location for public transport and taxi's.
We
got a taxi from Maturin to the Cano Colorado area at 6 a.m. for 32
dollars, including being picked up there again in late p.m. We started
walking (to the left) at the first crossroads after the end of the paved
road at La Hormiga (the road starts at La Pica). Many birds, like macaws,
did we see at this first straight stretch already, and found the true
varzea forest along the stream leading into the Guarapiche river by
keeping the track (later trail) that goes to the right after this first
straight stretch as straight as possible, ignoring a wider straight track
that goes to the left again after some time. In the forest along that
stream we saw several of the specialties described by Peter Boesman in his
Cotinga paper, like Crimson-hooded Manakin, Cinereous Mourner, Cinnamon
Attila, Slaty Antshrike, Jet Antbird.
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