Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
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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.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
