Los Tarrales Natural Reserve

Los Tarrales Natural Reserve is a private 1,500-hectare reserve and birding lodge on the southern slope of the Atitlan Volcano in Suchitepequez, run by the Burge family since 1940 and managed today by third-generation operator Andy Burge. The original 1874 coffee and sugar finca was declared a Private Protected Area in 2001 and a tourism program launched in 2002. The reserve protects a 700 to 3,000 metre elevation gradient that supports more than 350 bird species, including the globally threatened Horned Guan and Azure-rumped Tanager and the regional endemics Highland Guan and Pink-headed Warbler. Resident local guides are trained in collaboration with Cayaya Birding and the PROEVAL RAXMU bird monitoring program, and the property is the standard base for Horned Guan ascents (45-minute 4WD plus strenuous hike to 2200-2600 m cloud forest).