Our very popular birding tours to Bhutan thoroughly explore this beautiful Himalayan country for a whole host of special and range-restricted birds. Also, thanks to a small population and its Buddhist traditions, Bhutan has avoided the environmental ravages that have left its neighbours' forests sadly degraded, and much of the scenery is quite spectacular. Here majestic mountain passes littered with prayer flags give way to pristine forests often dominated by massive dzongs (temple-fortresses), and we will have an opportunity to view up close the impressive artwork that adorns these structures and interact with the devout Bhutanese people. Traveling across the breadth of this remarkable country, we will pass through lush broad-leaved forests dripping with orchids, blazes of Spring rhododendrons and magnolias, seemingly endless coniferous forests, with arguably the most magnificent mountain scenery in the world as our backdrop! Our Bhutan birding tour includes comfortable camping, often at breathtakingly beautiful sites, where our needs are catered for by a team of helpful camp assistants. Much of our Bhutan birding is done whilst walking the most productive sections of the only road winding its way across the Kingdom. Targets include Satyr Tragopan, Himalayan Monal, Blood Pheasant, Ibisbill, Rufous-necked Hornbill, Ward’s Trogon, Fire-tailed Myzornis, Beautiful Nuthatch and an astounding selection of wren-babblers and parrotbills. Join us on a Bhutan birdwatching adventure through a paradise of culture, birds and scenic vistas, as we explore the heavenly riches of Bhutan on this thoroughly recommended and highly enjoyable tour.

Our new Highlights of Bhutan tour is a shorter and more cost-effective offering as compared to our standard Bhutan birding tour, yet nevertheless still showcases most of what this amazing country has to offer, including almost all of Bhutan’s most beautiful and sought-after birds. In addition, we’ll be among the very first foreign birders to explore the relatively new Bomdeling Wildlife Sanctuary, refuge for about 150 overwintering Black-necked Cranes and scores of other great Himalayan species, making this Bhutan birding tour a true venture of discovery!

Our Assam Extension is a short birding and wildlife safari that showcases Kaziranga, one of India’s most famous reserves, as well as Nameri National Park. Vast swathes of swamps, grasslands and forests support an abundance of large mammals, unrivalled anywhere else in Eurasia. The prehistoric Indian Rhinoceros is encountered in astounding numbers, while large numbers of Water Buffalo, Asian Elephant, Swamp and Hog Deer can also be viewed, along with a chance for the mighty Tiger. Our birding targets include the rare White-winged Duck, Bengal Florican, Greater Adjutant and Swamp Francolin.

Blog - Birding Bhutan



Client Testimonials


Having David Erterius as principal leader and Greg de Klerk as assistant proved useful on the occasions when Greg acted as scout to locate birds from a different viewpoint. David's knowledge and birding skills were excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip. It excelled my expectations as to the number of new birds I would see.

KP, Bhutan 2018

Another great trip!!! Many thanks to all at Rockjumper. The tour was excellent, both David Erterius and Greg de Klerk did a great job as leaders, both in finding birds, making sure we all saw them and just being fun to be with. We would love to travel with either of them again - they were what we have come to expect from Rockjumper! The field agents were also brilliant and could not have done more for us... All-in-all, a great trip - I will recommend Bhutan to anyone (and, of course, Rockjumper). Already looking forward to our next adventure with you.

CS, Bhutan 2018

We wanted to drop you a line to let you know how absolutely thrilled we are with our very recent experience in Bhutan! We were blown away by the scenery and the birds. All the iconic species showed well, plus Glen's expertise enabled us to discover many other lesser known (to us) but no less interesting species. His knowledge, enthusiasm, and sense of humour were spot on for us!  Though Bhutan is not a mammal destination, many unexpectedly fascinating species came to life for us as well, especially on an impromptu night drive at Zhemgang.

S & J, Bhutan

I would like to add that our group was small, only 6 guests, which enhanced the birding experiences. The Rockjumper guides, Greg de Klerk and David Erterius, did a great job getting everyone onto most of the species every time. The small group also made for more comfortable travelling.

PD, Bhutan 2018

Rich and David are very different personalities and from a client’s perspective, they were a dream team. Rich has unusual leadership ability (he was the main guide), he was unselfish, always put clients first and had patience even with the slowest - a good communicator and very good at getting people on the birds.

AN, Bhutan

Both Wayne and Rich worked very hard to make this tour the success that it was. Rich was helpful in so many ways, and the two made an excellent team. Rich’s sense of humour was especially valuable.

JB, Bhutan

Glen & Rainer worked well together. Both were most attentive to client needs, no matter how trivial. Their sense of humour was keen and attention to birding very much appreciated. This was probably one of THE BEST tours I have been on. Wonderful combination of scenery, cultures and over-the-top birds.

LM, Bhutan

Markus's ability to find, ID, and scope birds for us (apparently simultaneously, sometimes along with photographing it) was absolutely amazing, and we ended up with some very remarkable sightings of what I gather are generally quite difficult birds. His knowledge of the birds of the region and their natural history is comprehensive, and his enthusiasm added immeasurably to our enjoyment of the trip. He was always on alert, calling out birds as we drove or walked, somehow kept track of what everyone had or had not seen well so far, and was very patient about repeating ID tips. He did a great job of keeping us informed of the daily plans - both logistics and, birdwise, the rationale for choices of where we would stop and what our current targets were. Though we were a small group, we did represent a range on the spectrum of watchers and listers, and Markus did a fine job of catering to different interests. Markus seemed to have an endless store of energy, and along with his guiding and organizing skills, he was a fun travel companion. He even provided us with copies of some of his fantastic photos from the trip at the end, so after each long day of guiding, he must also have been spending his evening time working on his photos.

KH, Budget Bhutan 2015

Thank you both for a magnificent trip to Assam and Bhutan. We still comment to each other daily on the many exciting experiences that we had. Thank you, Glen, for the very detailed report that we received, it will allow me to check our records of the trip, and bring back memories. So much were we enthused that we've booked to go with Rainer on his Namibia trip.

PB, Bhutan

David is one of the best guides I have ever toured with. He was a wonderful spotter, calm, good-natured and was always willing to do his utmost to ensure everyone saw as many of the birds as possible. I cannot thank him enough for making this such a wonderful and memorable tour.

AM, Bhutan


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