Adam was born in the Canadian prairies and now lives in San Diego with his wife and daughter. He is a very experienced tour leader having led hundreds of birding and mammal watching tours across all seven continents.
Along the way he has been exceptionally fortunate to see approximately 9,000 birds and 1,700 mammals. He specializes in taking groups to the world’s wildest and most remote places in the belief that humans need a personal attachment to these places in order to keep them that way. When not leading tours he works and volunteers on conservation projects and other interests include scuba diving, herping and growing his native plant garden.
We found Adam Walleyn to be knowledgeable, experienced, and with expert birding skills and people skills. We enjoyed him thoroughly.
I could not have been happier with our guides Adam is a terrific birder, good at getting the participants views of the birds, and a lot of fun to travel with.
The Rockjumper guide (Adam Walleyn) is fantastic. His vast knowledge, enthusiam and helpfulness are exceptional. He always made sure that all saw the animal, and explained the plans for the day in detail. I am less enthusiastic on some of the Malaysian guides. Lieuw (guide in Sabah) is an exceptional birder and helped us to find many specific birds, but his key interest is to present specific (endemic) birds to the customers. I can understand that most tourists that travel with him are listers that want to see as may endomic bird species as possible, but for somebody that wants to enjoy nature as a whole this is at times too much. Having said that,, Liew is a great guy that shared many pictures with us, is extremely enthusiastic and can explain very well how certain (closely related) species differ from each other.
Adam Walleyn acted as a very experienced and skilful leader. He had an intimate knowledge of the birds and great skills in finding and showing them. His communication was extremely clear, to the point and flavoured with a good sense of humour. In the few difficult situations that arose due to flights, civil unrest, etc, he showed extremely good skills in handling these with a perfect balance between group decisions and executive decisions. A role model for a tour leader.
The birds were magnificent, and when you combine this with the awesome guide combo of Adam Walleyn and the 'Big G' (Gareth Robbins), it made for a once in a lifetime trip. Thanks again Rockjumper for delivering a first-class birding experience.
With Adam Walleyn as our guide, it was hard to imagine how the trip could have been any better. Madagascar is certainly a challenging place, but his experience and ability to help us know what to expect were invaluable. As far as seeing birds, my expectations were exceeded. A great trip.
Adam Walleyn went above and beyond to find just about everything there was to see. His knowledge of herps, mammals and birds is very comprehensive.
This was our first tour with Rockjumper and it was absolutely fabulous. Adam Walleyn is by far the best bird guide we have ever had the privilege of working with. His combined qualities as the overall tour leader in terms of personality, ability to deal with whatever got thrown at him and interactive skills were all great. He was very good at keeping us informed of what was planned and was happening next. He was very good at imposing a gentle but essential discipline on the group - rotation in the procession, rotation of positions in the buses, ensuring that everyone got to see the bird - all made for a really good functionality in the group. His sharpness in the field, knowledge of bird calls and bird identification were simply remarkable.
Our guide, Adam Walleyn, was exceptional. His knowledge and enthusiasm is unparalleled.
A great trip all round. Birding was excellent and easier than in most other places I have visited, and the guide, Adam Walleyn, was superb. In between birding, we learned a lot about Cuban history and culture, which added another dimension to the tour and which I really enjoyed.
Adam Walleyn was a great guide and we had a lot of fun with him. The local guides also did a good job. We like Rockjumper and have signed up for two more trips this year.
We were surprised to hear that this was Adam Walleyn's first trip to Cuba as well as ours. He obviously prepared very well for the trip and clearly knew his birds. The local guides he used were very familiar with the birds and contributed both to the birding and culture of each region. Alejandro, the cultural guide and facilitator of the trip was both entertaining and knowledgeable and contributed a lot to our understanding of Cuba's past and present. Having a bus driver like Ronaldo who was familiar with birds and birding was a real plus for the tour.
We are home having had an amazing trip to PNG....we were very impressed with Adam Walleyn and Gareth Robbins and would rate them very highly as tour leaders. Very Best Wishes from very satisfied customers.
Adam Walleyn did a fantastic job organising the rest of the tour when Erik had to leave due to illness. I really appreciated his hard work and determination; for example: even though he had never been to Samoa before, his logistical work enabled us to get great views of some very difficult and unexpected species (Samoan Triller, Blue-grey Noddy).
Honestly, I didn't know what to expect since this was my first birding specific trip, and it exceeded my expectations. Seeing all the endemic birds, mammals and reptiles was a once in a lifetime experience I will always remember. Adam Walleyn is a great guide who is extremely knowledgeable about most things "Madagascar." And he has balanced the skills of keeping us all on track and being fun to hang around with - so many interesting stories about his travels.
Adam Walleyn was amazing, and we will definitely be looking into arranging a private Rockjumper tour with him in the future. Not only did he have extensive knowledge of the birds, but also the other flora and fauna, as well as some of the historical aspects of Madagascar.
Glen Valentine and Adam Walleyn were superb guides — honestly, they saw birds before they appeared! The local guides were outstanding and the logistics and accommodations were exceptional given our locations.
Excellent tour overall. Adam Walleyn is probably the best overall bird tour guide I have had the pleasure of touring with. He not only knows the birds and wildlife, but is great at handling all types of people and doing whatever he can to make the tour fun, pleasant, and productive. He was always respectful of participants, and made sure their priorities were the focus of the trip rather than his own.
Adam Walleyn was an excellent tour leader; he knew a lot about the birds, handled the group very well and has a wealth of experience in leading tours and in other aspects of ecological/environmental study & travel. We appreciated the fact that Adam did not carry a camera and therefore was able to devote his time/energy to finding the birds and getting people on to them.
Our Rockjumper guide, Adam Walleyn, was excellent. A strong birder and patient man, he worked hard to make sure that all participants saw and photographed the birds well. Adam was able to engage positively with a diverse and intense group. I liked him very much.
Our Rockjumper guide for all three tours, Adam Walleyn, was an excellent birder and attentive to all participants. We have travelled with Adam previously and continue to enjoy his expertise and passion for nature. Adam's leadership was a major factor in our booking the three tours.
Our Rockjumper guide for all three tours, Adam Walleyn, was an excellent birder and attentive to all participants. We have travelled with Adam previously and continue to enjoy his expertise and passion for nature. Adam's leadership was a major factor in our booking the three tours.
Our Rockjumper guide for all three tours, Adam Walleyn, was an excellent birder and attentive to all participants. We have travelled with Adam previously and continue to enjoy his expertise and passion for nature. Adam's leadership was a major factor in our booking the three tours.
Adam Walleyn is an amazing birder, I'm quite experienced but I literally have no idea how he knows, hears and can engage with so much of the wildlife and particularly birds around, that was all great.
[This was] my third trip with Adam Walleyn and I will definitely go with him again. He is constantly looking and working to find the birds---during lunch breaks, after the day ends, on the bus. He never stops and it pays off. He works hard to get everyone on the birds and remembers special needs that various members of the group have. He took a lunch break one day to spend time with me looking for one bird that I had repeatedly missed. We didn’t find it, but the effort was very much appreciated and noticed. He gave me some pointers and I did find the bird later on during another break.
Adam Walleyn knew the birds and the calls and worked hard to make sure we saw not only the specialties of the area but all the birds. His nightbirding skills were phenomenal. It is like he knew exactly where the bird was going to show.
This was an outstanding trip among many great RJ trips. The guides, Adam and Lev were wondering in their ability to identify and everyone onto the irds and ammals.
Our local leader and Adam Walleyn made a great team; we appreciated Adam’s great skill at spotting and identifying the mammals and herptofauna, which is an important part of any birding trip for us.
Adam Walleyn was an excellent guide. Very knowledgeable, helpful and he worked very hard to find the birds and take care of the many logistical matters. I would gladly tour with him again.
Luke & Adam did a great job. This tour was the perfect US specialty tour (will be interested to see more of these)... We covered tons of environments in a fairly small territory. Luke is a LA-area expert and aimed us exactly where we needed to be.
Both guides and trip were great. Especially glad that Adam Walleyn offered to stay at the Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo location and skip lunch if any others wanted to also skip lunch to try to view the bird. Only two of us skipped lunch to stay with Adam and all three of us got to see the bird.
Thanks again to the team at the office for setting up this trip. It was a great success. Adams experience as a guide really showed through. He was very knowledgeable regarding birds and other wildlife and also handled all the logistics smoothly. The local guides were extremely skilled brothers and were a great addition to the group. The accommodations and food were excellent. I will be using Rockjumper again in the future.
"We are pleased to report on our recent Rockjumper birding adventure after spending four weeks (March 22 - April 17) exploring many of Mexico’s best birding sites during back-to-back trips to the states of Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas. We were guided by Rockjumper’s Adam Walleyn and his local contact, Eric. Adam guided us in previous trips to Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, Cuba, Jamaica and Dominican Republic, and we have always been impressed by his worldwide birding expertise and his knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, all wildlife. Eric (a Mexican, living in Oaxaca, and fluent in English) has intimate knowledge of literally every bird species that resides in or migrates through Mexico - over 900 species. We slept well and ate extravagantly. Our drivers did an outstanding job of driving safely and minimizing the discomforts of numerous speed bumps and potholes. We birded in a diversity of landscapes that varied from sea level (during a morning coastal/pelagic cruise), to a mangrove forest, to desert scrub and to cloud forests where elevations were over 8000 feet. The highlight of our trip was, of course, the wildlife. We recorded a total of almost 500 bird species during the three trips - 20 of those were heard only. But with Eric’s guidance we had an exceptional opportunity to absorb Mexican culture. We visited ancient stone ruins, enjoyed delicious meals in small village homes (fincas) of farmers and coffee growers, and were pleased to view the products of skilled woodworkers and potters. Adam and Eric did their best to ensure that everyone in our diverse group saw every bird that we encountered. Everyday we were amazed by their skill in spotting and hearing birds and getting their scopes on the birds so that all could see. Their warmth and passion were felt and appreciated by all. We never felt threatened or insecure during our month-long trip. Mask wearing in Mexico is a law with near 100% compliance, including outdoors (our group complied when outside the van). We had no heath issues associated with food and drinks. "
"It was a wonderful adventure, fulfilling all the promises in your advertising. Adam is amazing. His knowledge of Indonesian birds and their vocalizations is phenomenal. He was extremely patient, waiting for endemics and other special birds to become visible and making sure that we could all see each and every one. Not only that, Adam was also an excellent travel companion."
Adam and the local guide, were exceptionally good, both at making sure the logistics were taken care of and locating, identifying and making sure all of us on the tour saw the bird. Both were the finest I've ever experienced at identifying birds by their calls. All in all, a really terrific trip with over 300 species of birds sighted! A special shout-out for Hotel Robledal. While the hotel is older, the family that owns and runs it are wonderful hosts with an exceptional appreciation for the environment. Returning to Hotel Robledal at the end of the trip felt like coming home. Thanks Rockjumper, for a terrific trip! "
This trip was exceptional. It exceeded our expectations in every way. The two guides, Ryan and Adam were outstanding in every aspect and greatly complemented each other. I highly recommend both of them. There is a fair amount of logistics involved in this trip and everything was well planned, with back up plans if needed. There was a great chemistry among the group, and even though our group varied from intense, hard-core birders to those that were a little more easy going, everyone got along great and the leaders worked well with everyone, helping everyone see all the birds and having a great time while doing it. This is a trip designed to see the endemics of the area and that is what the focus is. The total number of birds seen is certainly less than other trips, but the quality of the birds seen is amazing.
We have travelled with Rockjumper many times and have been totally satisfied. However, this trip was easily the best we have experienced. We saw many birds we have not seen before, but the highlight was the way in which the tour was run. We have travelled with Adam before. This time we found his knowledge amazing despite the fact that he had never been there before. Ryan was different in that he lives in this part of the world and his birding knowledge was extraordinary. Add to that his ability to organise all other aspects of the tour made life so much easier for us.
This was an excellent trip. Ryan and Adam were great at getting the birds, and handling all of the complicated travel logistics seamlessly. Best of all, they were fun! I had an incident where my passport fell out of my bag. I did not discover it until we were boarding the plane. They handled it so well and we were able to track the passport down.
Sign up now and get the best deals straight in your inbox!
1-888-990-5552
info@rockjumper.com
This was an excellent opportunity to see a part of Colombia that I hadnt visited. It was a vigorous schedule, as predicted; fortunately, participants could opt out of activities if they preferred. Our guides were both top rate, with complementary strengths. The result was a lot of birds, particularly endemics, seen. Accommodations were appropriate to each area. The van and driver were superb.