EIGHT GREAT
BIRD-WATCHING SPOTS
Some birdwatchers want to tick off as many species as possible; others go in search of colour
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and spectacle. Mike Unwin picks eight of the best destinations to get out the binoculars and identification books
clog, the extraordinary shoebill is perhaps the most sought-after of more than 1,000 bird species that have put Uganda firmly on the bird-watching map. The country owes these avian riches to its location. Straddling both the savannahs of East Africa and tropical forests of the Congo Basin, its bird-rich habitats range from the big- game country of Queen Elizabeth National Park, where bateleur eagles soar overhead, to the Albertine Rift forests, where endemic Rwenzori turacos flit through the canopy. Other wildlife highlights include the best chimp and gorilla trekking in Africa. SELL IT: Rainbow Tours’ ‘Essential Uganda’ offers a 10-night guided tour of key bird and wildlife destinations, with gorilla and chimp trekking included. From £3,890pp, including flights and most meals.
rainbowtours.co.uk
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than a launch pad for the Galapagos Islands. For birdwatchers, however, the country’s (surprisingly accessible) combination of Andean peaks, dense cloud forest and Amazonian rainforest offers one of the world’s
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ECUADOR For many, mainland Ecuador serves as little more
UGANDA Towering a metre tall, with a beak like a Dutch
greatest avian adventures. Indeed, with some 1,600 recorded species, this is the fifth bird-richest country in the world. Highlights include the dazzling tanagers and hummingbirds of the Mindo cloudforest, the condors of the Papallacta Pass, and the kaleidoscope of cotingas, toucans and others around the world-renowned Sacha Lodge, where dugout canoes and a canopy walkway take you into the heart of the Amazonian forest. SELL IT: NatureTrek’s 15-night guided birdwatching tour ‘Ecuador – the Andes and Amazon’ takes in the western cloud forests, Andean high páramo and Amazon basin. From £3,495pp, including flights.
naturetrek.co.uk
your feet, fluffs up its natty headgear, then promptly ducks – as you do – to avoid the two-metre wingspan of a black-browed albatross coming in to land. For birdwatchers The Falklands is something of a holy grail. The appeal is more about quality than quantity: only 195 species of bird have been recorded but among them are impressive colonies of albatrosses, petrels and three species of penguin, all of which allow intimate, in-your- face encounters. Land birds, which include such island
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FALKLAND ISLANDS A rockhopper penguin waddles out of the surf at
specials as Cobb’s wren, striated caracara and flightless steamer duck, are all as unfazed by human contact as their ocean-going cousins. SELL IT: International Tours & Travel has an eight-day Falkland Islands Wildlife Watch including Sea Lion Island, Pebble Island, Saunders Island and Stanley from £1482 net excluding international flights.
falklandislands.travel
Main image: The Kings of the beach, King Penguins at Volunteer Point, Falkland Islands; Insets L-R: The national bird of Uganda, the African Crowned Crane; The Keel Billed toucan of La Paz Costa Rica; The
Tawny Froghead, often confused with an owl. The Froghead is a neonave bird native to Tasmania.
52 November 2013
www.sellinglonghaul.com
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