Thinking of your next trip? Here are some mammal-focussed trips that are looking for people to join them. If you are planning a trip and looking for company, or looking to team up with others somewhere, then please post on the forum or get in touch.
If you are running a commercial mammalwatching tour then please email me for rates and options.
Anyone can list a trip here. They are not necessarily recommended or approved by mammalwatching.com, especially if I don’t know the people involved. So please do your own research before signing up: two weeks in a remote camp with someone you don’t get on with will not be fun at all ….
The following trips are looking for people to join.
Bat Bio Blitz, Costa Rica TBA 2021/22
Organizer – Fiona Reid
I recently bought a large and beautiful property in Southern Costa Rica – 154 acres, with massive waterfalls, lots of mature forest, and a good variety of habitats. In order to find out more about the biodiversity on my land, I am planning a series of bio-blitzes and bat workshops.
I’ll be leading and organizing this workshop and I will have permits for catching rodents and bats. With luck, we should find roosting Spix’s and Peter’s Disk-winged Bat, Wrinkle-faced Bat, Chestnut Sac-winged Bat, Pygmy Round-eared Bat, and a number of tent-making bat species. The river has Greater Fishing Bats and numerous smaller species, and we hear the calls of Shaggy Bats and Northern Ghost Bats frequently – catching those two is hard but we will certainly try. Other mammals that are easily seen around Sylvan Falls include Red-backed Squirrel Monkey, White-faced Capuchin, Neotropical River Otter, Tomes’s Spiny Rat, White-nosed Coati, Central American Agouti, and more.
Level of difficulty: Easy – Moderate
Level of difficulty: easy
Borneo At Night tours (running in all seasons)
Algeria winter 2021/22
Organizer – Vladimir Dinets
I am thinking about organizing an expedition to Algeria in the winter of 2021/2022, preferably in November. The main focus will be on the mountains of Central Sahara, to look for Mzab’s gundi and possibly Saharan cheetah, plus a few local rodents and Saharan hyrax that are likely splits. Aoudad is common there, and surprises such as dama gazelle are possible. While driving there and back we’ll also spend some time in lowland desert looking for widespread Saharan fauna such as fennec, desert hedgehog, Libyan striped weasel, sand cat, lesser Egyptian and hammada jerboas, etc. In the north we’ll try to see all three gazelles, the recently split Myotis zenatius, striped hyena, golden wolf, desert long-eared bat, North African sengi, common and Vl’s gundis, fat and lesser sand rats, North African striped mouse, Shaw’s jird, various gerbils, North African hedgehog, and other interesting mammals. The only bird I’m planning on going after is Algerian nuthatch, but we should see lots of sandgrouse and other goodies, plus we can always devote more time to birds if you wish. I might charge the participants some extra to cover my expenses (this trip requires months of paperwork to organize), but will not try to make profit – I’ve been dreaming about going to these mountains for 45 years. A leading Algerian mammologist might be able to join us and will certainly give us tips such as bat roost locations. I can take 1-3 people.
Level of difficulty: ?
Zakouma, Chad – March 14 – 23, 2022
Organiser – Pictus Safaris
As most seasoned guides will tell you, Zakouma remains one of the most exciting wildlife destinations in Africa. Nowhere else can offer such a diverse array of must-sees, ranging from the vast 550-strong herd of bush elephant that parade through the bush, all of the ‘big five’, vast herds of tiang and exceptional night drives. Visitors can come across pale fox, caracal, honey badger, striped hyena, serval, wild cat, cheetah, leopard and lion in just a few drives if lucky. And, even for mammal-watchers, the birding is truly spectacular, with tens of thousands of red-billed quelea flocking above the Rigueik Pan making for one of the greatest wildlife spectacles anywhere on earth. Once the preserve of the uber-wealthy, this itinerary offers all this at a great price. Especially for mammal-watchers, we offer an extended fifteen-night stay in the park for £4,995 or our standard six-night stay for £2,995.
More details are here.
Level of difficulty – easy
Pygmy Hippo Pursuit, Cote D’Ivoire, April 9 – 21, 2022
Organiser – Pictus Safaris
One of the world’s most elusive mammals, pygmy hippo are a bona fide mammal-watcher’s mammal. Sightings are, of course, devilishly difficult to come by and, when they do happen, they usually only occur in the dead of night. Recently, though, sightings have become increasingly common on the Hana River in the southern reaches of Tai NP in the Côte d’Ivoire – so much so that some lucky visitors have had encounters in broad daylight, even with calves. This tour takes visitors straight to this spot and, when married with ample opportunities for primate-watching, birding and even the chance of bongo and Jentink’s duiker, this itinerary makes for a great new addition to the mammal-watching circuit in West Africa. 12 nights for £4,195.
Full details are here.
Level of difficulty – easy/moderate
Wolverines in Finland, May 11-15 2022
Organiser – Royle Safaris
A 4 night tour to Finland from 11-15 May 2022 focusing on Wolverines. Finland is now open to anyone fully vaccinated. This fantastic photography adventure delves into the old growth, ancient forests of eastern Finland close to the Russian border in search of Europe’s least understood carnivore; the wolverine. These forests and various ecosystems are home to a wealth of wildlife that used to prowl the forests throughout most of northern Europe through to Canada and the northern US, however years of over hunting and urban development have eradicated much of the forests and therefore many of the species.
Javan Rhino Tour, August 2 – 12 2022
Organiser: Royle Safaris with Vladimir Dinets guiding
There are places left on this unique tour that explores part of the world that are rarely visited, and so to get a good idea of what to expect we recommend you read through the below information thoroughly.
We have outlined a detailed itinerary for the entire trip. However due to the movements of the rhinos and other factors (such as tides, vegetation cover, weather etc) we will change the itinerary to give us the best possible chance of seeing a rhino.
Rest assured that whether we see a rhino or not you will be among the first ever non-scientists to ever attempt a sighting in the core area of the park and pioneers at the start of ecotourism here that could save the Javan rhino.
On our first Javan Rhino Expedition in 2018 we had an incredible double Javan Rhino sighting. Two different individuals over the course of one incredible day.
More details about the tour format are here. This trip can be combined with a 5 day endemic mammals of Java extension (details in the earlier advert).
Level of difficulty: moderate
Recent Comments