Sparked by the world’s richest avian diversity, bird-watching around greater Medellin, Antioquia, and Colombia continues to grow at an accelerated pace -- thanks to better organization, an improving security situation and better infrastructure.

Thanks to audacious investments starting 14 years ago, a new, 250-hectares private nature reserve near Medellin -- dubbed “Manantiales” -- can be seen as a font of renewed hope and restoration following Colombia’s decades of violence and environmental destruction. Leer más 

Among the encouraging signs of Colombia’s and Antioquia’s recuperating economy, environment and security situation is a growing network of private nature reserves – overwhelmingly founded by native Colombians, but now including a few “rare-bird” expats.

One such rare-bird migrant is North American-born biologist and construction contractor Doug Knapp, who two years ago launched the “La Esperanza” birding lodge and private reserve just outside Jardin, Antioquia.

Overlooking Jardin and within sight of the spectacular Farallones de Citara mountan range is Knapp’s six-hectare reserve (at 2,000 meters above sea level), where he and Colombian colleagues have built rather luxurious guest cabins and laid-out trails inside a regenerating forest.Leer más 

Unless you’re accompanied by a local, expert birder -- such as someone from the Medellin-based Sociedad Antioqueño de Ornitologia (SAO), or a guide specially trained by the SAO – then birding in and around Medellin can be frustrating, especially for recent newcomers.