Yellow House Trails & Lodge

A place of un-equaled beauty and natural richeness. It has one of the richest variety of birds, butterflies, including ones with transparent wings, animals, plants, mushrooms, wild flowers, including orchids and bromelias karatas. Beautiful rivers. With its own rain forest inside its property, the “Hacienda San Vicente” is one of the best known birding localities in Ecuador.

With an impressive bird list of over 470 species (the highest of any locality in western Ecuador), including many threatened species. The Mindo area has won the Christmas Bird Count for three consecutive years.

The Yellow House Trails & Lodge is at 1200 (3937 ft) to 1700 MASL (5577 ft), it is a medium altitude, private cloud forest located at the north end of Mindo. It is owned by the Garzón Jaramillo family and attended by this very nice family. It has 200 hectares (494 acres) of lush old secondary and towering primary cloud forest. There is a main trail and five side trails of forest, along with some palm trees to feed the birds and bears of the region. In particular, trail #3 leads to a beautiful spot (Mirador) where you can see the entire Mindo valley. The farm house and the surrounding fruit trees and flowers also present an interesting place where we can find many easy to see birds. There is a river near the house and fish ponds that are frequently visited by kingfisher birds.

This privately owned section of the forest boasts well-maintained trails that lead you high into the forest, providing stunning views of the valley. As you make your way through the trails, you´ll see butterflies, birds, and gorgeous flowers. Keep your eyes peeled because if you´re lucky, you might see armadillos, porcupines, Collared Peccaries, monkeys, and even the Andean Spectacled Bear. This place is only a five-minute walk from town, but a world apart. Visitors are always warmly welcomed by the friendly family owners.