Tour Price (Per person): USD5,000 (GBP3,816 * EUR4,364 * AUD7,227)
Pricing notes : Tour price estimate based on a minimum group size of 6 guests. Please contact our Tailor-made team on tailormade@rockjumper.com for more details and accurate costs.
Referred to as the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean, the island of Socotra is a biodiversity jewel with almost 700 endemics species of flora and fauna. Our weeklong tour is designed to enjoy a wide variety of habitats to find all the principal island endemic and potential future endemic birds. Along the way, we are sure to find several interesting reptiles and plants, as well as enjoy the idyllic and rarely visited landscapes.
This tour is made available through our Tailor-made tours department. To explore this offering further for pricing, precise day to day itinerary, inclusions & exclusions, or to tailor the tour to your personal requirements, please contact our Tailor-made team on tailormade@rockjumper.com
Persian Shearwater; Masked Booby; Socotra Cormorant; Socotra Buzzard; Sooty Gull; Socotra Scops Owl; Socotra Warbler; Socotra Cisticola; Socotra Starling; Socotra White-eye; Socotra Sunbird; Socotra Sparrow; Socotra Golden-winged Grosbeak; Socotra Bunting
wadis, lagoons, beaches, mountains, scrub, gravel plains
tropical desert, high temperatures year round with light rain possible
reasonable, some longer days in the field. Walking is mostly easy with a few moderate walks over uneven ground can be expected
comfortable
mostly easy with a few tricky species
Dragon's Blood Tree (Dracaena cinnabari), very rarely visited island
good to excellent
I was very pleased with the birding. I saw all 29 endemics and a total of 42 life birds. The leaders are great at finding, luring in and identifying birds. I appreciated that the focus was very much on the birding. The food and accommodations were excellent and appropriate. I wonder if we should have spent our last night near the coast but am not sure how that would have affected our birding success.
What a great experience! Everything was as you told us in the pre-departure literature, so we were well-prepared. Rob was an excellent tour leader. His vast experience in conservation, core knowledge of birds and bird behavior, and his enthusiasm was generously shared with the group. He modeled proper trail behavior and made sure that everyone “saw the bird”. The local guides were top-notch and took good care of the group. I also learned so much from the better birders in the group. Highly recommended!
Note that some of the comments I made regarding the Thailand extension apply to the main Thailand tour. I liked the sequence of sites visited; it ensured the Spoonbill Sandpiper was seen early on and then designed to minimize travel. Staying multiple nights at one site is always appreciated and seemed to be done as much as possible. The guides made special efforts to see bird species sought by the group; we saw more bird species than I expected. The drivers were excellent and also one of them, Jaime, was a good birder who helped the guides track down some species; it was an asset to have internet while in the vehicles. The drivers also produced an excellent video of the trip - a nice touch; they also did an excellent job with mid-morning breaks. I especially enjoyed visiting a hide all morning early on in the trip - it gave us a chance to see some elusive species but also several species very well. One morning was spent looking for a rare duck; I would have rather spent the time looking for a variety of Thai species. Quite a bit of birding was done along roads - it might have been better to bird trails etc. if they are available and afford good views of birds pointed out. Food was excellent (Uthai selected great dishes for the group) and accomodations were good. It was an enjoyable trip with rewarding looks at many of the bird species seen.
Despite the heat and humidity, Guyana is a magical place with gorgeous rainforests and savannahs and lots of beautiful birds and the wonderful giant anteater. Lev Frid was a wonderful guide full of great enthusiasm. I especially appreciated his patience in helping everyone get a good view of the birds. He is a joy to travel with. Our local guide was also great and a lot of fun to be around and so helpful as well in identifying the different birds. Also a special shout out to Leroy, who helped us on the last full day of birding; he was great. The drivers Renford and Devon were awesome as well.
Both Andre and Uthai were remarkably tireless and effective in finding and identifying birds, including some of the most elusive species in Thailand. They also did a great job of organizing the logistics of the trip. Our meals were already prepared when we arrived at restaurants and all of the hotel arrangements were handled smoothly. We probably will not consider going on another standard Rockjumper trip. Birding steadily from dawn to after dark was a bit much, especially for 22 uninterrupted days. This pace is appropriate for most serious birders so I don’t fault the guides, but we plan to shift to a style of traveling in which we can set our own schedule. We might consider one of Rockjumper's relaxed tours, but we're not concerned about long hikes and muddy trails as long as the schedule allows for a little down time to read, reflect and recover.
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