Paul lives in Norfolk in the UK and has been birding since the age of 9 – more than 40 years now! Birds and wildlife are his passion and he says “I feel really lucky as birding is a great hobby, wherever you are in the world, all you need is a pair of bins and a notebook and you are happy”.

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  Paul was recorder for NarVOS a Norfolk based bird club as a youngster and edited the Cambridge Bird Club for a few years prior to moving to Suffolk.

  Paul works in agriculture and has international commercial experience and in managing geographically dispersed teams. His career in agriculture has given him the opportunity to work in Switzerland for several years during which time he travelled the globe. These trips to places like Brazil, Costa Rica, China and The Philippines amongst others, provided some excellent birding opportunities and a few weekends were added on to make the most of visiting these amazing countries. Paul has spent most of his life in East Anglia, and the Norfolk coast is his favourite birding haunt (although the Isles of Scilly runs it close). He has been lucky to be involved in the identification of two firsts for Britain, the Holkham Red-breasted Nuthatch and the Minsmere Siberian Blue Robin.

  Paul enjoys sharing his passion for birding; enjoying the privilege of showing people new birds. The great thing about birding is that every trip is different, and you just never know what you are going to see.

• Testimonials Paul Varney

  KH, Papua New Guinea 2023

  This was my first birding tour ever, so I wasnt sure what to expect. The tour leader, Paul, was so amazing, there are not enough superlatives. All of the other participants had been on birding trips before, and Paul was very gracious to make sure I had the opportunity to see as many birds as possible and know what to expect. He was very conscientious, and prepared for almost anything. The trip was physically challenging due to the steep muddy trails, high and low temperatures, and oh yeah, the earthquakes. I wasnt sure what to expect, although the descriptions were pretty accurate, but I was ready to stop hiking by the 11th day. Thank you for the recommendation of collapsible walking sticks. Those were very useful. I am very glad I had the opportunity to take this trip. I cant say enough good things about Paul as the trip leader. I hope he gets to lead all of his first choice tours in the future!

  BD - Highlights 2022

  The tour was amazing and probably one of the best we have been on. Paul and Moses were great guides and managed to get us on birds and good opportunities for photographing birds and animals. I appreciated Paul's patience and constant enthusiasm. Moses really understood the animals and what birds or mammals might do next - he got us in good position for great photos. Moses also had a great sense of humor and responded quickly when one of our tour members became sick. I really like that Rockjumper takes care of all the tipping and takes care of local staff and guides. This is a real benefit in the tours for me.

  MB - Highlights 2022

  Paul Varney was a superb guide. He worked hard throughout the tour, ensured everyone got what they wanted from the trip and had incredible patience always answering (even often repeated) questions and had excellent knowledge of the birds and game. What really impressed was he was always open and willing to say he didn’t know or wasn’t sure, knew when to let an ID go and would make effort to work out a tricky ID from images overnight and confirm later. We thoroughly enjoyed his company and he made it a great experience. Moses our driver was fantastic. He has great knowledge of the areas visited, is an excellent, careful and confident driver and has incredible eyes. He is also a genuinely caring and lovely man who helped make the time in the vehicle a lot of fun. Your ground agents are brilliant. I guess you know that, but they made everything work very smoothly and helped with organising transfers.

  MN - Cambodia 2024

  The tour was full of high quality birds & fun. Paul is an excellent leader & worked well with the local guide to get us the best views possible. I look forward to another tour with him. I also recommend Cambodia with Angkor Wat as quite a backdrop for some great birds.

  NH, China 2024

  Paul Varney, was very well prepared, despite not having birdied much in China before he had studied the likely birds at each place and particularly he had leaner the calls, so vital in identifying almost identical leaf warblers. He was calm and flexible when logistical issues arose. I would happily tour with him again.

  RS, Tanzania - Highlights 2025

  Paul was excellent. Great at spotting birds and animals, and worked really hard to get us onto difficult to locate sightings. Would suggest that he remind everyone of birding courtesy (get your sighting, make sure your neighbor could get a good sighting, then take photos, and to be careful not to step in front of others, blocking their view). Paul got the ebird lists out to us in about three days (36 checklists) which took a lot of work on his part. Roger was an excellent driver, spotter, birder and historian. He gave us a lot of information about Tanzania, and especially the great migration, which we got to see. There were a ton of highlights on this trip, but I think seeing an Aardvark has to be near the top of the list.

  RS, Tanzania - Highlights 2025

  This was an outstanding tour. Paul Varney is a superb guide -he was super-friendly, made sure all of us could see the birds to the extent possible, and was very well organized. I would travel with him as a guide any time! The selection of sites to visit was perfect - a nice variety of habitats and wildlife. I very much enjoyed the visit to the Olduvai Gorge. At Tarangiri we took an optional night game drive, which was fantastic - there we saw an aardvark, a really rare sighting. I would definitely recommend that this be added to the itinerary. The lodgings were fine - all were clean and well- appointed. The meals on offer were somewhat disappointing, though, as nearly all of them served the same types of food - creamed soups, stews, potatoes & rice. The packed lunches were very good, though. All in all this was an absolutely wonderful trip!

  RS, Tanzania - Highlights 2025

  This was an outstanding tour. Paul Varney is a superb guide -he was super-friendly, made sure all of us could see the birds to the extent possible, and was very well organized. I would travel with him as a guide any time! The selection of sites to visit was perfect - a nice variety of habitats and wildlife. I very much enjoyed the visit to the Olduvai Gorge. At Tarangiri we took an optional night game drive, which was fantastic - there we saw an aardvark, a really rare sighting. I would definitely recommend that this be added to the itinerary. The lodgings were fine - all were clean and well- appointed. The meals on offer were somewhat disappointing, though, as nearly all of them served the same types of food - creamed soups, stews, potatoes & rice. The packed lunches were very good, though. All in all this was an absolutely wonderful trip!

  MW, Tanzania - Highlights 2025

  Paul and Rodger (local driver/guide) were first class. Helpful, energetic, patient, suitably enthusiastic and knowledgeable. The accommodations and meals were spot-on.