A two hour drive from Quito took us up into the hills finally reaching the Bellavista Cloudforest Lodge. This was deep in the lush forest and in a lovely picturesque setting. It was here we had our first encounter with the beautiful and fascinating hummingbirds as they flew around the strategically placed feeders, their bright fluorescent colours highlighted by the sunshine. Some were no bigger that a bumble bee and the sound of their wings also mimicking the buzz a bee.
We spent two days and one night trekking through the forest where we saw a myriad of plant life including many orchids species. There were many colourful bird to be seen including toucans, tanagers, trogans to name but a few. There are numerous walks of various degrees of difficulty, we did the waterfall walk than involved a wet scramble up the waterfall itself but it was well worth the effort.
