Short (5-8 days) Birding Tours to Peru and 1 week Winter Japan in 2017
Published: Tue, 11/15/16
We listen to the suggestions we get. Lately many people are asking for tours that last a week or less, so that only five days off work would be required for a trip spanning over two weekends. Most birding tour companies have not caught up to this trend, still only offering two-three week trips that are expensive and time consuming.
It was different 30 years ago, when I started arranging birding trips. Then birders wanted to maximize the time and see as much as possible of the country in one big trip. But frankly, how can you? Peru has close to 1900 species. These longer trips seem to be far more intense than a short trip. It is as if the goal is to see every bird as little as possible, so there would be more time to see even more birds as little as possible, resulting in more time to see even more birds as little as possible. At the end of the trip you end up having seen more bird species than the total list of your home country, mostly with VERY POOR sightings. At the end of the day, how many of these birds will you remember a few months later?
One has to do a series of shorter trips to a country like Peru. So even if you have already been to Peru, I suggest you take a look at this email, because there are places and birds you have not seen.
Especially Americans have shorter holidays and are more limited to do long trips than Europeans. US being just a hop away from South America compared to Europe, makes a short trip very attractive for North American birders. Perhaps even more important is that the attention span of people today is much different. Even if we had the time and the money, the fast pace of society today makes a three week birding holiday almost impossible for most people. Your work, your family, real life friends, friends on Facebook and Twitter, the news flow and numerous emails are fighting for your attention. How can you possibly go away birding for three weeks in this situation? It is not like the world would end if you stay off Facebook for so long, but when you come home you may find you have a new president, who you thought was too much of a buffoon to be elected in a democracy; or you may find that your country does no longer want to be part of Europe. On the other hand in situations like this, it is probably better to be birding anyway, right? But still - three weeks? Nah....
BUT.
MAYBE YOU COULD SQUEEZE IN A WEEK?
A week to hit the reset button. Some relaxing birdwatching. Get away from it all. ESCAPE THE RAT RACE for a while and do what you like. GO BIRDING.
No one would even notice you are gone. It is only for a week, you know.
I know exactly how you feel. Kolibri Expeditions is a 24/7 job for more even when I am not guiding. In fact, I often feel it is impossible for me to go on very long guiding assignments for the same reasons. But if it is just a week. Different story! I can prepare and delegate urgent items. Non-urgent items I can deal with when I am back home. I don't need begging and convincing my family that I "NEED" to guide this particular trip. It is just a week, you know.
Short tours are also a lot of bang for your buck. Even if they are more expensive per day in general considering international and domestic flights, the total cost of a five day tour is still considerably less than a trip lasting 16-22 days.
Here are a couple of tours you can join by only taking five days off work. MORE BIRDS!
Winter Japan.
Japan tours are often very expensive and way too long for most people. This is a unique chance to do the most important stuff in Japan in less time and with less money. Kolibri Expeditions Winter Japan tour runs in February 2017 and covers Hokkaido specialties Steller's Eagle, Blakiston's Fish-Owl and Japanese Cranes; as well as the Japanese Snow Macaques bathing in hot springs surrounded by snow and ice. The trip is filling up fast and only a few more spots are available. We accept additional bookings only to the end of November-early December.
Marvelous Spatuletail and Long-whiskered Owlet
Convenient flights to Tarapoto makes it possible to twitch some of the most enigmatic species in Northern Peru in only five days. This tour is particularly attractive for anyone loving hummingbirds as there are several sites we visit that has hummingbird feeders.
Manu road
It may come as a surprise but it is quite possible to see most the highlights of world famous Manu road in five days by staying at Cock of the Rock Lodge, Amazonia Lodge and Wayqecha research station. You'll sample all altitudes between 4000m down to the tropics of 550m above sea level.
Bosque Unchog, Carpish and Lake Junin
Some of the best endemics can be found on this 5 day trip to Central Peru, such as Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager, Bay-vented Cotinga and Junin Grebe.
Satipo road and Oxapampa.
The untamed subtropical forests of Central Peru containing many recently described endemics as well as a handful of species which still have not been formally described. Your eco-dollars are well spent here to give the local community incentive of ecotourism and conservation. NOTE THAT WE HAVE JUST STARTED A FUNDRAISER TO IMPROVE THE NEW COMMUNITY ECOLODGE at Calabaza/Apaya. A small contribution will help a lot. See the project page on Generosity.com.
Machu Picchu and Abra Malaga
Classic sites with history near Cusco. Birding and culture combined in five days. There are many endemics at Abra Malaga.
Los Amigos
Southern Peru's best Amazonian site. The diversity here is second to none, while there is still cold beer and wi-fi. Some of the star birds include Black-faced Cotinga, Long-crested Pygmy-Tyrant and Peruvian Recurvebill, as well as Pale-winged Trumpeter, macaws, woodpeckers, tanagers and trogons and with impressive wildlife such as Emperor Tamarin, Monk Saki and Spider Monkey. This itinerary shall be updated in the coming days to a five day tour, with the option of adding days. One can now fly to Puerto Maldonado in the morning and arrive in time to take the speedboat at midday from Laberinto. Furthermore, there is a late afternoon flight to Lima which one can fit in easily on day five with time to bird until 10 AM that same morning.
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We are currently writing more itineraries, so check out the 5 day tour tab on the website and you will soon find more suggestions. You can also check the 1 week tab in tour length for suggestions of short tours you can take within the week limit (this page is being updated as I write this - please have patience or send me a line to kolibriexp@gmail.com with enquieries of areas you want to visit within a week window).
Finally, do check out our calendar for upcoming scheduled tours or just navigate to the categories on the main page to find the pace of birding, naturewatching, birdphotography and combinations with culture that best fit your needs. Remember, we cater to all kinds of birdwatchers. From beginners to advanced. From rich to not so rich, from hard-core to relaxed; and from guided services to independent.
In a coming newsletter I shall update you on our exciting new products of tiered pricing on birding tours.
Have a birdy week with MORE BIRDS.
Saludos
Gunnar Engblom
Kolibri Expeditions
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