Celebrate 25 years in Peru with me. Last minute birding deals!

Published: Tue, 11/10/15

Hey

Sorry for such long time since any updates from me. 2015 has been such a busy year for Kolibri Expeditions, with lots of trips, including: Guess what! I had totally forgotten that it is 25 years since I first came to Peru to birdwatch. 

Here is how it all started.

In August, 1990, I landed in a foggy and cool Lima, after having spent a week on Cuba in tropical climate.  The climate in Lima was not what I expected!  It did me in and I immediately caught a cold and was in bed for two weeks.
As soon as I was fit again I headed to La Punta, Callao with my telescope, my camera and a photocopy of the Lima section of Peter Alden & John Gooders  “Finding Birds around the World”. This is where I saw my first Inca Terns. 

Some Snowy Herons were taking off from mudflats on the south side of La Punta peninsula, and I was just about walking over there, when a local guy whistled to get my attention. He was waving his forefinger back and forth in the air and shaking his head as to tell me: NO, DON’T GO THERE!  When I looked his way, he passed his forefinger across his throat as if it was a knife.  He did not have to say anything more.  Callao and some parts of Lima were not places to wander around back then. I jumped into the nearest taxi and got out of there.

Those barb-wired tall walls with watch-towers and machine gun armed guards I saw along the avenues were not prisons, as one may have thought, but factories and warehouses protecting themselves against terrorists and criminal attacks.  Even the large supermarket Wong on Benavides Avenue had sand sacks on the roof and armed guards pointing their guns to the street.  The sidewalks and parts of the streets in Lima were full of people selling things, there were hardly room for the cars as the pedestrians had to walk on the streets to get anywhere. 

Things have certainly changed for the better since then.  I live in Lima and I feel safe! Lima is a modern town and as safe as any big city.  And La Punta, Callao is now one of the nicest neighborhoods in all Lima well worth a visit for its excellent Ceviche restaurants and the Poza Arenillas mudflat, which is now a reserve. La Punta is also the port for the Lima pelagic birdwatching tours.

A quarter of a century! 25 years of birding in Peru!  It calls for a celebration.  Celebrate with me in Peru! For the rest of 2015 we offer 10% discount on the great tours we have lined up. Take advantage of this offer so you can hear more of my tales from Peru and see some of our wonderful birds.  I am eager to share this celebration with you. 

We are introducing some of our novel 5 days tours which can be standalone tours for those with little time or combined into mega-diverse trips by combining short tours to different parts of Peru.  Perhaps a get-away for Thanksgiving? Or a trip over Christmas and New Year?  Or get away from the worst Christmas rush at home and escape to the Amazon rainforest just before Christmas?

To celebrate the 25 years in Peru I shall over the next 7 days to tell you one story per day with some anecdotes and tales from the past and a little bit of Peruvian birding history.  So it is a short intense diversion from the relatively infrequent activity from this newsletter.  I really hope to seed some inspiration, so that I would soon see you in Peru or elsewhere in South America. If you don’t have time to read now, please bear with me.  Soon everything will be back to normal, with very irregular blogposts and rare shout-outs. ;-)
Meanwhile, check the Kolibri Expeditions Calendar to learn about our upcoming trips.

More tomorrow!

Un abrazo & More Birds!

Gunnar