This presentation offers a view of Colombia and its remarkable biodiversity through the eyes of a young ornithologist and his wife as they struggle to carry out fieldwork in the early 1970s. This is followed by a look at Colombia’s unusual ornithological history, its fledgling ecotourism of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the civil unrest at the end of the past century. It concludes with the rebirth of ecotourism and birding in Colombia almost two decades ago, this time dominated by a generation of talented young biologists, and a country determined to welcome the world to its marvelous birds and wildlife.