Together we enjoy a visit to the Cloudforest at Bellavista and Mindo, the Galapagos Islands aboard the 16-passenger Galaxy, and the Amazon Rainforest at Sacha Lodge.
Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve & Lodge sits on a ridgetop 90 minutes west of Quito, in the midst of, you guessed it, the Andean Cloud Forest. Accommodations vary, but here at Adventure Life we default to the Superior rooms for our travelers. The newest block of these Superiors has a full bank of windows facing out over the valley, and a small balcony with views towards the opposing hillsides.
Upon our arrival at Bellavista, we were greeted by friendly staff, but then quickly by a slew of hummingbirds, as well. There are feeders hanging in the trees surrounding the main lodge complex, and these are a constant hive of activity. Of course, if you remove the feeders and hold a bright-red cup of nectar yourself, the hummers will simply land on your finger and feed directly from your hand. It’s a bit difficult to turn off your instinctual urge to flinch or recoil when these tiny animals buzz past your face, as there is something bug-like about them. But after a bit of practice, you grow accustomed to the process. Within minutes, we each had three, four, five, even six hummingbirds feeding from our hands at the same time.
As we awaited lunch with our new little friends, one of the guides approached us to introduce himself. He told us he’d be our guide after lunch… but if we wanted to actually join him right now, he thought we might be able to see a spectacled bear that he had seen with other outgoing travelers. It’s always fun to see guides a little flustered by a new and exciting sighting, and since I had never even heard of a spectacled bear until the words exited his mouth… we obliged. Sure enough, the spectacled bear - imagine a small bear with the looks of a black bear and the persona of a panda, with facial marking that make it look like he’s wearing glasses - was soon found in a tree, just 100 meters or so from the lodge. Adult spectacled bears apparently abhor being near humans, but this was a juvenile, and he was just curious enough about the compost pile to stick around.
Over the course of the next 24 hours, we walked the hills surrounding Bellavista, seeking more birds, mammals, orchids, etc. We had fabulous weather, with bright blue skies and only the occasional clouds working their way up from the valley. The highlight may have been the night walk, when we found all manner of insects, spiders, small frogs and other critters - all within just a half mile walk of the lodge, maybe less.
We were a group of three that initiated our research by independently searching for the best agency to help us in the somewhat complex experience of traveling to the Galapagos. We chose adventure life because they were the most responsive in the website provided the most comprehensive overview of the trip. Their reviews were also very good.
Adventure, life splits up its booking process in two parts. First Jeff, the booking agent helped us decide which experience best suited are interests. We chose a small 14 to 16 group sized yacht. Once the booking was made with Jeff, we were handed off to Coleene, who oversaw the complex process of assembling all of the necessary documents and making sure we had everything we needed to make the trip go smoothly. The adventure, life website, then becomes your personal place of reference for all things related to your trip from door to door. It’s a lot of information to assemble, especially for three travelers, but the website makes it easy and Colleen‘s gentle reminders kept us on track. In all, from the beginning, we had four months from the time we started our research till the time we departed. We felt that was, a good amount of preparation time and don’t think it would be wise to do it in less than four months. Mostly because I think you have more options with that amount of time. There were others on our trip that took six months and more from the time they started planning.
The trip itself was outstanding. We ended up on an excellent yacht (Galapagos Angel II) with a great group of guests that we were able to connect with and put together a really nice google photos album to share.
Jed
6 days ago
Mary was very helpful. Quick to reply with helpful information and closure on arrangements.
Nicola Maxwell
1 week ago
Mary Curry and Elma are always so responsive and nice to deal with.
Michael
1 week ago
I enjoyed working with Jess to put together a private N.Z. trip. Jess has been my go-to person at Adventure Life over the past several years. She listens to what my husband and I want in a trip, and is always responsive to questions. Nothing seems to be too much of a bother for Jess.
DIANNE GRAY
1 week ago
Jane was my AE agent for the 2 months of helping me decide that this will be the most amazing trip we will ever experience in our lifetime and a memorable way to celebrate our 40th!
I was also able to work with Mike from Quark who was also very helpful.
Once I had decided to go ahead with my booking Kevin took over to assist Jane while on vacation.
Kevin was able to tweak the quote even more
and truly sealed the deal! He was patient with receiving my full payment as it took time to “round up that much cash” Were booking a delux balcony and there’s no looking back
I feel confident and very satisfied that I have made the best decision choosing Quark Expeditions and look forward to a top notch experience aboard the Ultramarine.
Both Jane and Kevin are sincere, professional and courteous. They met all of our needs
to ensure my process was stress free.
I’m looking forward to all our daily excursions then enjoying a Sauna and my own cold plunge in the tub! My back up plan
to the “Antarctic Plunge”
I look forward to getting to know and dealing with Mary Rose for all the final details that will make our trip complete. Great company!
