Costa Rica is Calling!

Costa Rica. The country is an all round destination, good food, great accommodation, scenically beautiful, fantastic wildlife and wonderfully friendly people. Next year will be my 10th tour and it never ceases to amaze me how varied a landscape such a small country offers and the diversity of birds reflects the great range of habitats present. I am often asked what country is my favourite to visit, well Costa Rica is right up there at the top of my list. 

"If you haven’t yet been to Costa Rica, then go or at the very least put it on your life’s wish list! Trust me you won't regret it" 

Pleasant climate, super food and wonderfully friendly people make visiting Costa Rica a real pleasure. However, as a tour leader working for Worldwide Birding Tours, then high on the priority list for making journeys with groups a success is diversity of habitats, stunning scenery and of course a wide variety of wildlife, not to mention the birds. A good variety to birdlife is what keeps fellow travellers involved each day and certainly Costa Rica never fails to deliver. During my last visit we managed 450 species in our 2 weeks and heard another 30 odd, so another successful visit and yet again a very happy group made the whole trip a memorable one.

By way of relaxing before and after our main tour, I normally book an extra night prior to the start and at the end of our birding tour. I like to use the Hotel Bougainvillea in San Jose as my start and end point. I thoroughly recommend this hotel, set within its own grounds, beautifully landscaped and with several birds and plants to interest those given to strolling through gardens at their own pace. The ambience, the food and friendly staff all conspire to relax you after your journey and makes for an ideal last night in preparation for your homeward flight.

Costa Rica is one of the richest countries in the world for birds. More species have been recorded here than in the whole of North America yet the country is only the size of a small State! This tour has been organised to cover most of the best birding areas and aims to visit as wide a range of habitats as possible. Of course such a diversity of habitats will also produce diversity of plants, butterflies and amphibians. The scenery is stunning and sure to add an extra ingredient to make this a holiday to remember!

The extraordinary number of bird species recorded in Costa Rica is a result of the tremendous diversity of habitats in the country. Not only does Costa Rica have coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea (Atlantic Ocean), but forest types ranging from dry deciduous forests in the lowlands to lush evergreen cloudforests in the highlands. It also has rivers, marshes, swamps and subalpine paramo.

On a personal note I managed 12 lifers on my last trip and being well travelled that is no mean feat, so thanks to my pal Steven Easley for not only helping the life list, but for making my job so easy and relaxed. Steven is most probably the best birding guide in the country, so these journeys mean I can step back, listen and watch and be more like a guest enjoying the holiday, its another reason for me to always look forward to these tours.

We have a few remaining places still available on our WBT 2015 tour. The tour begins January 31st and ends February 15th 2015. I very much hope you will consider joining me on what promises to be another incredible and enjoyable adventure. To find our more please contact me HERE

I hope you like this little collection of photos taken on our Costa Rica tour.

Well I hope you enjoyed what might be a preview of a few sights on our 2015 tour. I hope I might see you there.

For further in formation please contact me HERE

To view our full itinerary please visit our main web page on Costa Rica HERE

To see other destinations we visit please visit our main site. Thank you.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT OUR MAIN SITE

Serranía de Ronda winter wildlife

A mixture of misty mountains, clear crisp blue skies and long awaited rains have conspired to paint a picture of transient days here as cloaks of autumn gently make way for the frosted blanket of winter. A chill is on the wind, sunshine looses its battle for domination and, although temporary, our temperatures subside sliding down a damp slippery slope created by recent rains. Mists swirl and gather in valleys, smoke rises from the brashings of olive trees and autumn piles, whilst many of our plants welcome their annual hibernation, celebrating their temporal retreat with a final flurry of plenty in the form of seed and berry.

And yet, remnants of a summer and warm autumn passing, still desperately cling to their existence, striving against hope to survive beyond their given time. Times, not only seasons, are changing with our climate playing tricks on natural cycles. Dragonflies and Damselflies are still awake, dancing over wet meadows and water filled streams, romance still in their lives as they copulate and lay next years eggs of hope and hence completed procreation, another reason for existence exercised. The sounds have subsided already from the earlier than usual callings of the rutting deer, local herds of female Ibex retreat from the attentions of following males. The awakening of a winter, not fully arrived, is late.

Some images from a busy week and again I hope you enjoy my world. Maybe join me on a tour here in my mountains? See the bottom of this offering.

Why not join Peter on one of his famous local tours?

Winter Break - Find out what you can be doing in the Serranía de Ronda this winter HERE

Design your own tour and arrangements for a tour in the Serranía de Ronda look HERE

Fancy something more exotic, want to visit some of the natural wonders of our world? Then look at our main site below:

CLICK HERE TO VISIT OUR MAIN SITE

Birding South Africa - Countdown!

South Africa is beginning to occupy my thoughts now that my tour is fast approaching! I really can’t believe how quickly time has flown by and leaves me with such a short time to prepare for my journey. My employers took no time at all to achieve a fully subscribed tour, with many people disappointed we had no further places available. Never mind, there is always another year for friends to join me. I am due to leave home on 20th November and won’t get back until the 17th December! So another long while spent away, though reading below you might not have too much sympathy with me…

“We go to the Kruger National Park, where we also hope to see the Big Five, but also the Big Six birds: the lappet-faced vulture, martial eagle, saddle-billed stork, kori bustard, ground hornbill and Pel's fishing-owl. And watch the oxpeckers busily hoovering up ticks and insects from the hides of antelope, buffalo and giraffe”. So guess who is VERY excited??

South Africa is a great destination for birding and the presence of big and small mammals, which can be easily found visiting one of the many National Parks or Game reserves, makes this country one of the most pleasant countries to visit. Our group will find a variety of habitats during our tour; almost treeless grassland, “bushveld” often referred to in South Africa as Savannah and the East Coast Littoral - a moist tropical to sub-tropical mosaic of forest, coastal thicket and grassland, and being as the whole group has signed up for the extension the Pelagic - open sea up to 200km off-shore. Of course each of these habitats has its own particular birds.

We have included several days to spend in the Kruger National Park, which is not only a paradise for those who are interested to see the African mammals, but also one of the finest birding destinations in South Africa.

Of the 900 or so species that have been recorded in South Africa, about 725, or c.85%, are resident or annual visitors, and about 50 of these are endemic or near- endemic to South Africa, and can only be seen in this country.

We have planned an extension to Cape Town. This extension includes a pelagic trip out of Cape Town. This trip offers the chance to see large numbers of Albatrosses, Shearwaters, Petrels and Storm-petrels. We will also visit the West Coast National Park and Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

The outstanding infrastructure, great accommodation, excellent food and spectacular and varied scenery make South Africa a very attractive destination for my employers – Worldwide Birding Tours - to visit. The country is synonymous with wildlife and nature. Here, you can not only find the Big Five, but so much more – a superb range of species amid dramatic, unspoilt landscapes.

For the birder it is a truly inspiring and wonderful destination with over 900 species, ranging from the familiar – Swallows, Robins and Thrushes – to the lesser known, such as Turacos, Penguins and Sunbirds. It could take a lifetime to spot all South Africa’s birds! But even on our relatively short birding visit, we’ll still be able to tick off plenty while bird-watching.

Our habitats include wetlands, desert, riverine bush and woodland – and then of course there’s the sea, take a look at our 6 day optional extension for an unforgettable pelagic opportunity and experience, see the link here. Although fully booked this year, why not think about joining me in 2015?

Birding in South Africa is amazing – whether you're on safari, cruising round the Cape Winelands, hiking in the Drakensberg or sunning yourself by the sea, you will never be far away from bird-watching opportunities. There are many great birding routes all over South Africa; some take just a few hours, others a day or more. Coming on tour with us means you are in good hands with local information on the best routes and times to visit. Although fully subscribed this year (2014), why not join us me on this marvellous adventure due to begin once more during November 2015?

To view my full itinerary and perhaps get an idea of what to expect for 2015, see the link to Worldwide Birding Tours - South Africa HERE

For many other wonderful destinations and nature tours click on the WBT Logo text below!

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