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After several years of being closed, Reserva El Triunfo has reopened, and we are more than thrilled to be taking Field Guides groups there! Many consider El Triunfo to be the crown jewel of Neotropical birding. It just doesn't get much better than this. Picture walking outside of your cabin at the base camp, a ring of misty cloud forest surrounds the clearing where Baird's Tapirs cross and a cacophony of birds welcomes the day. Birds such as Yellow-throated Nightingale-Thrush, Guatemalan Yellow Grosbeak, Middle American Leaftosser, Scaly-throated Foliage-gleaner, Highland Guan, Barred Forest-Falcon, Northern Emerald Toucanet, and Black-throated Jay all sound off. Soon the mist rises, and you see a male Resplendent Quetzal in a display flight above the canopy, its meter-long tail snaking behind it. You walk a short distance from camp and hear the deep booming of a Horned Guan reverberating through the moss and tree ferns. You look up and there it is, just overhead in an avocado tree, totally unafraid! This colossal bird with a velvet black face, goofy white eye, silver-streaked chest, and waxy red horn is the last of an old lineage of cracids just hanging onto this cloud forest ridge. Bienvenidos a El Triunfo! (Text continues after the video.)
Enjoy this short video of highlights from our 2026 tour:
For this short, week-long tour we'll start and end in Tuxtla Gutierrez. We'll drive to Jaltenango and spend the night there so that we can get an early start up El Triunfo the next day. From Jaltenango, we'll drive in enclosed 4x4 trucks along a winding dirt road until we reach the coffee-growing village of Santa Rita. Here begins the 7-mile hike up to the El Triunfo base camp cabins. The first 5.2 miles are steep with an elevation gain of 2,600 feet. The final mile or so descends into the valley of the campamento. Thankfully, a crew with horses will take all our luggage and food up the mountain, so you only need to carry your daypack and binoculars. Once there, we will spend three days exploring the various trails that radiate from camp, enjoying the sights and sounds of the cloud forest and the delicious meals prepared by the local cooks. We will hike back down and drive to Jaltenango, then drive back to Tuxtla, so there will be no need for camping, which is a requirement if you go down the Pacific side. From Tuxtla you can fly home or join us for the Enchanted Chiapas tour to see the rest of the specialties of Southern Mexico.
And here's a video taken on our 2026 tour to show you around the site where we stay at El Triunfo:
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Combo Tours
If you would like a longer birding holiday, some departures of this tour may be combined with:
MEXICO: ENCHANTED CHIAPAS