Ecuador: In search of Andean bears
An Andean bear named Paula in her rainforest home
In the month of May 2022 I was invited to go visit the amazing country of ecuador to go find and photograph the rare and beautiful Andean bears. These bears are the only species of bear found in south America, and like black bears, are almost entirely plant eaters. In fact they are the second most vegetarian bear species, only behind the panda bear. With only 5% of their diet consisting of meat and the rest consists of eating the local bromeliads and plants that inhabit their cloud forest homes. They are also one of the few bears who do not hibernate due to their temperate homes.
My travels to see this bear started in early 2021 when I started to create my goal of seeing all 8 bear species in the world. The Andean bear, with only a few thousand mature bears in the wild, made these bears one of the most challenging to see in the wild. but after months of research, and only a spotty lead on how to find them at best. I then spoke with a man named Charles mun, a renowned biologist who specializes in south American wildlife. and he told me of a farmer in Ecuador who has created a safe haven for the bears in his local region and was guaranteed to see them due to their density there. So with this information I booked the flights and was on my way to Ecuador 2 months later to see this seemingly too good to be true location. Called mirador del Oso Andino(Andean bear overlook). Upon arriving at the location it was just that, a beautiful paradise of cloud forest tucked away in the Ecuador mountains. The land also had farms spread all across its landscape being that it was an agricultural area of the country and most locals made their livings off small, family farms. What is so different from these farms compared to every other farm in the country, however, is the protection these locals give the bears. The man who runs the Mirador, Denilo has been helping these bears for two decades. He has been able to get all the local farmers in the region to not only not bother the bears and let them roam their farms. but he has also prevented them from building any new developments in the protected area. this is a first in the country for the bears and being from one individual and not an organization, is an immense feat to accomplish. Giving these bears a sanctuary of safety, and one that offers the occasional tasty treat of avocados or mangos.
Having arrived in the late evening, the first night resulted in no bear sightings, but I was able to get ready for the next day eager to find bears!
A view from the mirador of the “bear canyon”
The next day had us getting out the door at 7 am to start heading down the canyon into the bear’s habitat. This trek of approx a half a kilometer down (.25 miles) is not bad if not for the steep elevation shift. going down approximately 200 flights of stairs each time!
Once we found ourselves halfway down the canyon, we took a break to try and see if there was any movement and then… we got our first bear sightings! we had 2 bears spotted on the other side of the canyon heading down. so once we saw these we moved with an eager pace to get to the bottom and wait! crossing into more jungle terrain and crossing a powerful river.
and this aspect of photography is what many don’t always see. as we knew the bears would eventually cross the bridge to get to the other side for food, we did not know of when. So we sat patiently and waited, 2 hours passed and not a sign was to be had of any bears. with scouts at the overlook, if a bear were to be seen leaving or moving trees in the canyon, we would be aware. But hours passed and nothing……until, all the sudden we heard trees rustling! and then out of nowhere we see her! a young, beautiful adosecant andean bear named barbara, who happens to be mothers name. Young bears like her are very inquisitive creatures and while she did not see us..YET, she smelt us.Bears have the best sniffers in the animal kingdom even above dogs. and so she followed some of our tracks and followed them across the bridge, it was only then when she caught a new scent that she knew where we really were, and she gave us the most amazing pose and stare I could hope for! all this time and work put in and here I am! staring at one of the rarest bears in the world and being able to see how amazing she really is!
Barbara using her nose to find where us sneaky humans are hiding
This would be the first encounter of a few more I would have in the proceeding few days, of which I will write more about in another post!
