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 rainforest with someone you don’t get on with will not be fun ….
The following trips are looking for people to join.
Organiser – Estonian Nature Tours
Estonian Nature Tours is running two tours this year concentrating on Mammals and Birds. They are offering a 5% discount to mammal watchers. Tour dates of the year 2019 are Fri 3rd May – Fri 10th May and Fri 6th Sep – Fri 13th Sep
Highlights
Mammals: Racoon Dog, Red Fox, Elk, Roe Deer, Flying Squirrel (in dusk 80% quaranteed), Wild Boar (difficult! African swine fever), Brown Bear (99%), European Beaver (95%), tracks and droppings of Lynx and Wolves etc.
Birds: Bittern, Long-tailed Duck, Black Stork, peak spring migration of waterfowls, Ural Owl, Pygmy Owl, Golden Eagle, Lesser Spotted Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, Black Grouse, Capercaillie (probably), Corncrake, Great Snipe, Whimbrel, White-backed Woodpecker, Three-toed Woodpecker, Grey-headed Woodpecker, Citrine Wagtail, Savi´s Warbler, Penduline Tit, Golden Oriole etc.
Level of difficulty: Easy
Javan Rhino Expedition, June-July 2019
Organiser – Royle Safaris
Royle Safaris is now opening our Javan Rhino Expedition for 2019. We have managed to special permits that allow our group to enter the core region of Ujong Kulon National Park. We will be camping inside the park and basing our search along a little known river deep inside the park. This river has had more sightings (4-5) in the past couple of years than any other location inside the park for many years.
Level of difficulty: Moderate/Hard
Andean Cat Search, July in Chile
Organiser – Lennart Verheuvel
After a succesfull trip in the Western Sahara, Janco and I are going a littlebit more far away this time: Lauca National Park in Chile. With the recent successes of Jon and Ben in mind, this looks like the place to see Andean mountain cat and Pampas cat appears to be possible too. We will be going this July for about two weeks.
If anybody is interested please contact me for more details. Any extra par of eyes makes probably a difference over there! Bear in mind though that in Chile it will be winter this time of year so it will be colder then in December. So if you’re up for some hardcore mammalwatching please contact me at lverheuvel AT live DOT nl!
Level of difficulty: Moderate (mainly because of the altitude).
Bonobos in the DRC, July 2019
Organiser – Jason Woolgar
Difficulty – Moderate/Hard
There is currently one place available on this tour, which is being organised on a research basis with the costs divided equally among the participants. The trip will take two weeks in all and our small group will have seven full days to explore the Lomako-Yokokala Reserve, where we are guaranteed to see Bonobos and hopefully many of the other great species in what is a really diverse region.
Yunnan Snub-nosed Monkeys, Yunnan, China, July 2019
July 17 – 23
Organiser – Mogens Trolls
I’m planning a private one-week trip specifically to photograph Yunnan snub-nosed monkey in the Yunnan province. I’m looking for a travel partner to split the costs with 50/50. I’m organizing the trip through the Chinese biologist Han Lianxian who comes highly recommended in the report by Coke Smith from 2011 shared at this forum (http://www.cokesmithphototravel.com/yunnan-expedition.html). We will start and end in Kunming and have five full days with the monkeys at Tacheng Nature Reserve (=Baima Snow Mountain NP).
Gabon, August 2019
August 17 – 31
Organiser – Fiona Reid
I am leading a group to Gabon in August 2019 (Aug 17-31 in Gabon) – basically following a similar itinerary to the one Jon and co. did, in hopes of seeing a similar host of great mammals! Please read Jon’s report for details on the country, accommodations and of course all the mammals they saw. I’m taking a slightly smaller group – max 8 including me, we have a night camping in Akanda, and a whale-watching trip from Libreville on the last day. Other than that, and inclusion of all meals in the trip cost, the itinerary is much like Jon’s.
Level of difficulty: Moderate
Gabon, August 2019
Tibet Snow Leopard Expedition, September 2019
Leading this journey is veteran Himalayan guide Jamin “Lobsang” York. Originally from the US, Jamin lived 15 years full-time in Tibet and speaks both Tibetan and Chinese languages. He is also a certified Wilderness First Responder with an emphasis on High Altitude Medicine. His expert knowledge and research on Tibetan history, culture and religion has been used by Animal Planet, The Discovery Channel, National Geographic and most recently by BBC for their 4 part series The Mekong River with Sue Perkins. He will be giving lectures each day on different aspects of Tibetan history and culture as well as monitoring the health of each client.
Joining Jamin is expert Tibetan wildlife guide Rinchen Tsebtrim, a native of Yushu Tibet Autonomous Region. Rinchen is fluent in English and studied eco-tourism from Columbia University in the US. He has led dozens of snow leopard expeditions the past decade. Some of his past clients include BBC, Wildlife photographer Vincent Munier and Disney. In 2016, Rinchen worked for 6 months on the snow leopard section for Disney on their Born in China documentary
South Africa, September 2019
Wildwings still have spaces available on this year’s South Africa mammal watching tour. Full details can be found at http://www.wildwings.co.uk/app-holidays/south-africa-for-mammals-new. Past trip reports can be found on the South Africa pageson this site and on the Wildwings website.
The tour visits the well-known spotlighting hotspot of Marrick near Kimberley, and nearby Warrenton for otters, Marievale and Suikerbosrand near Johannesburg for otters and ungulates, and Madikwe on the border with Botswana for Wild Dogs, Brown Hyena and a range of other carnivores and ungulates. We have had great views and multiple sightings of a wide range of species including Aardvark, Aardwolf, Black-footed Cat, Brown Hyena, Cheetah and Wild Dogs on all four previous tours and regularly have good views of Spotted-necked and/or Cape Clawless Otters, African Wildcat, Smith’s Red Rock Rabbit, Black Rhino and Leopard. We have also seen Zorilla and Caracal.
Level of difficulty: Easy
Borneo’s Rare Mammals Tour, September 2019
Amazon Cruise with the Amazon River Dolphin Conservation Foundation, October 12 – 22, 2019
Organiser – Suzanne Smith & the ARDCF
A trip planned for October 2019 for up to 20 people with plenty to see and do at an affordable price. Amazon River Dolphin Conservation Foundation is a registered 501c3 non-profit organization. While our work focuses on the endangered Amazon river dolphin, we will explore the region in search of other rainforest wildlife. We will try to see as many species as possible. During previous trips, we have encountered tucuxi (another river dolphin species), red howler monkeys, titi monkeys, red rumped agoutis, white faced sakis, white fronted capuchins, giant river otters, Amazon tree rats, black howler monkeys, pied tamarins, long-nosed bats, squirrel monkeys, fishing bats, three-toed sloths and much more.
Level of difficulty: Easy
Borneo, October 2019
Organiser – Tomer Ben-Yehuda
19 full days of mammal exploration at Tawau Hills, Deramakot, Kinabatang River, Danum Valley and Mt. Kinabalu, looking for all the rare, bizarre and interesting mammals of Borneo. The prime targets will be of course the clouded leopard (10 nights at Deramakot dedicated for the task), marbled cat, sun bear, bay cat (extremely difficult, but found at Tawau Hills), Hose’s civet (also very difficult but found at Tawau and Mount K), flat-headed cat, western tarsier, and anything else we can find
Level of difficulty: Moderate
Andean Rare Mammals, 1 -11 November 2019
Organiser – Royle Safaris
The trip visits the higher altitude habitats of Ecuador in search of some of the most sought after South American mammal species. This trip focuses on 3 different areas, the cloud forests around Bellavista (where Olinguito is a prime target), Papallacta (where mountain tapir is the main species) and Cayambe Coca National Park (where the wonderful Andean (spectacled) bear is our number one target).
Along the way we expect to see species such as Andean white-tailed deer, Andean white-eared opossums, Andean rabbits, kinkajous and Andean foxes and we hope to see some rarer and more elusive species such as northern oncilla, colocolo, northern pudu, western mountain coati and many more species. Many of the species are very elusive and so we cannot guarantee any of the rare mammals, but we will have expert local guidance in each location as well as our own zoologist escort (Martin Royle), who has worked in the Ecuadorean highlands with the Andean Bear Project in the past. What we can guarantee is significant effort put into trying and see as much as possible.
As well as daytime effort we will also spend a good amount of time after dark looking for species. We will have high quality optical equipment for long distance spotting, a thermal imaging scope and animal caller all to help us in our efforts.
For anyone interested in extending this trip to explore other great areas of Ecuador (such as the Amazon or Galapagos Islands0) we can also make these arrangements and provide tailored itinerary for this. We have a great team of local guides in Ecuador and can provide itineraries specialising in mammals, birds, herpetofauna, marine wildlife, botany and photography.
Level of difficulty: Moderate
Amur Leopard and Siberian Tigers: November and December 2019 Trips
Organiser – Royle Safaris
- Amur Leopard Photography Tour (this is the location where all of the attached pictures were taken) – 19th – 27thNovember 2019
- Siberian Tiger Photography Tour – 12th – 20th November 2019
- Siberian Tiger Winter Tracking Tour – 27th November – 6th December 2019
- Combined Amur Leopard Photography Tour & Siberian Tiger Photography Tour – 12th – 27th November 2019
- Combined Amur Leopard Photography Tour & Siberian Tiger Winter Tracking Tour – 19th November – 6th December 2019
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Bioblitzes in Costa Rica with Fiona Reid: December 2019 and February 2020
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.
Dec 14-21, 2019. Bat Bioblitz and Workshop to coincide with Nils Bouillard’s Big Bat Year. Nils is traveling the world to see as many bats as possible and try to help promote their conservation. Leaders: Loren Ammerman, author of Bats of Texas and renowned bat biologist, and her husband Mike Dixon, a herpetologist will provide their expertise and help with mist netting and herping.
Feb 20-27, 2020. Nature Bioblitz This is the second of two nature workshops, where all fauna will be recorded. Leaders: Rich Hoyer, a very experienced birder-naturalist (employed by WINGS), will be surveying birds, butterflies, moths and odonates; Tracie Stice and Gianfranco Gomez, naturalists and spider experts, organizers of the legendary Drake Bay Night Tour will be providing their intimate knowledge of local natural history too.
I’ll be co-leading and organizing both workshops and I will have permits for catching rodents and bats. We will take at least two day trips to other habitats. For batters we will visit locales where I know of roosts for species we may have missed. With luck, we should find roosting Spix’s Disk-winged 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. I expect we will encounter 30-40 bat species during the first workshop, including some good ones (we will definitely do some batting on the February workshop as well, but the extent will depend on group interest). 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
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