| country: | Bulgaria |
| departures: | Departures can be arranged anytime to suit you from May to Sep, guaranteed to run with minimum 2 pax booked |
| price: | From €595 (8 days) excluding flights. Single supplement €100. Price includes accommodation (halfboard), transfers, English-speaking guide and entrance fees for Poda lagoon and Cape Kaliakra |
the amazing things you'll be doing
This birding tour has been conceived especially for those enthusiasts who, although pressed for time, are eager to see as much as possible within a week. Despite comprising a fairly intensive itinerary, which will mean a lot of travelling, there will be ample time to enjoy some of the most representative birding areas in Bulgaria.
The trip starts with a visit to the eastern Rodopi Mountains where more than 20 species of breeding birds of prey (including the Black, Griffon and Egyptian Vultures, Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Long-legged Buzzard), as well as large variety of small passerines (Black-eared Wheatear, Red-rumped Swallow, Sardinian Warbler, Olivaceous Warbler, Masked Shrike, Sombre Tit, Cirl Bunting and so on) are expected. Later in the trip special attention will be given to the wetlands by the Black Sea coast and along the Danube River (offering Dalmatian Pelicans, Pygmy Cormorants, Spoonbills, Glossy Ibises, Purple, Night and Squacco Herons and Ferruginous Ducks).
This tour is a very good choice in terms of time, value and species (the checklist normally exceeds 190 species).
The trip starts with a visit to the eastern Rodopi Mountains where more than 20 species of breeding birds of prey (including the Black, Griffon and Egyptian Vultures, Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Long-legged Buzzard), as well as large variety of small passerines (Black-eared Wheatear, Red-rumped Swallow, Sardinian Warbler, Olivaceous Warbler, Masked Shrike, Sombre Tit, Cirl Bunting and so on) are expected. Later in the trip special attention will be given to the wetlands by the Black Sea coast and along the Danube River (offering Dalmatian Pelicans, Pygmy Cormorants, Spoonbills, Glossy Ibises, Purple, Night and Squacco Herons and Ferruginous Ducks).
This tour is a very good choice in terms of time, value and species (the checklist normally exceeds 190 species).
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Arrival at Sofia Airport and transfer to Plovdiv (transfers can be arranged for arrivals at Bourgas or Varna airports) |
| Day 2: | Stroll along Maritsa River for Levant Sparrowhawk, Masked Shrike, Roller, Black-headed Bunting and other specialties. Transfer to the realm of the birds of prey in Eastern Rodopi Mountains for enjoying the great local variety of raptors and passerines. |
| Day 3: | A day at the “vultures restaurant” observing Griffon, Egyptian and Black vultures. Other specialties will include Long-legged Buzzard, Booted Eagle, Black Stork, Black-headed Bunting, Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler, Cirl Bunting, Woodchat Shrike etc. |
| Day 4: | A walk along the canyons of Arda Rivers. Short but very rewarding hike featuring Blue Rock Thrush, Rock Nuthatch, Orphean and Subalpine Warblers etc. Afternoon transfer through Sakar Mountains to the Black Sea coast (short stop en-route for Isabelline Wheatear and Imperial Eagle) |
| Day 5: | Wetland tour around Bourgas. The shallow hyperhaline lakes and lagoons here are favourite stop for many water connected birds during migration (including White and Dalmatian Pelicans, Purple, Night and Squacco Herons, Pygmy Cormorant, Slender-billed Gull, Savi’s Warbler etc.). Afternoon transfer to cape Kaliakra (Calandra Lark, Pied Wheatear, Short-toed Lark, Tawny Pipit, Semi-collared Flycatcher etc.) |
| Day 6: | Hike around Dourankoulak Lake and few other wetlands of international importance in the area (Glossy Ibis, Paddyfield Warbler, Ferruginous Duck, Marsh Sandpiper, Whiskered Tern, Little Tern etc.). Afternoon transfer to the Danube River. |
| Day 7: | A day at Srebarna Lake famous for its diverse colonies of water-connected birds (Dalmatian Pelican, Red-necked Grebe, Little Bittern, Spoonbill, White-tailed Eagle, Ferruginous Duck, Penduline Tit etc.). Afternoon transfer to Sofia. |
| Day 8: | Transfer to the airport for departure. |
travelling with a local operator
This holiday is operated by a company based in the holiday destination and they will be able to provide expert local knowledge. They will be able to tailor make your holiday to suit your requirements not only concerning the dates of travel but also typically the standard of accommodation, and thus price. It is rare for local operators to be able to help with the booking of your flights.how this holiday makes a difference
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Outside the rich avifauna of Bulgaria the biggest merit of this tour is the guides. We use highly experienced graduates (MSc-s and PhD-s), specialized in field ornithology. As a part of their activity they are leaders or experts in different projects for the investigation of birds – their distribution, migration, biology etc. Thus they are perfectly prepared for identifying birds visually or by voice, which is of great importance for species with more hidden ways of life and behaviour.
The accommodations on that program are carefully prepared to provide enough comfort but also a good insight into the local way of life. We use guesthouses and family-run hotels, where the food is organic and most often prepared from cattle/plants growing just outside the hotel. It is essential for the local people especially in the poor regions inhabited by vultures to see that the large raptors are something that is worth saving, which indirectly reduces the illegal practices of spreading poisoned carcasses against wolves (which is also a deadly poison for birds of prey). Through the years several guesthouses have been established in those birding places that we visit, giving a good example of how the local communities can take an advantage of the birds presence, which reflects also on the attitude of the other people in the area in general. One of the highlights of this tour is the organized feeding of vultures, for which we pay directly to the NGO that is taking care of the monitoring and protection of the vulture colonies in the area. This is not just made for the sake of tourists themselves but also to help the activities in the area in order to prevent a potential decrease in the vultures population (which have been steadily increasing since the first organized feeding activities started some 15 years ago). We believe that what we have now as an environment is not a legacy from our ancestors but something we have borrowed from our children. We will do our best to preserve it and improve it as much as we can. We directly support nature conservation projects, donating money, or providing vehicles for different NGO actions like forestation activities, monitoring of waterfowl, winter counts, research projects on specific species/habitats etc. We provide local nature conservation NGOs with discounted prices on our rent a car services or hostel accommodations for their every day job, workshops, training etc. common initiatives. We recycle paper and reuse paper in our office; all printer cartridges (including laser jets) are also subjects of regular recycling. An online version of our printed brochure is available for online viewing at the website, which reduces considerably our paper consumption in terms of print runs and mailing envelopes. We have also adopted a variety of energy efficiency measures at our offices like outer wall insulation, energy saving light bulbs etc. A bird feeder, supplied with huge amount of seeds, is always available by our office in severe winters. |
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