About two hours from quito, the Bellavista Reserve cloud forest ranges between 1400 and 2600 meters above sea level, with an average mean temperature of 14-22 degrees celsius. Bellavista's forest habitat shelters over 320 species of birds, the endangered spectacle bear and Andean coatl, plus numerous orchids and bromeliads.
A cloud forest is a cool, montane tropical or subtropical evergreen rainforest usually immersed in clouds at the canopy level. The forest has a relative humidity of 100%, making it the ideal habitat of thousands of endemic plants and animals.