COSTA RICA & PANAMA – TALAMANCA & CHIRIQUÍ HIGHLANDS AND BOCAS DEL TORO

07 – 20 Oct 2018 (14 days)
Price: USD4,550 *GBP3,209 *EUR3,661 *ZAR54,123
Tour Leader: Dušan Brinkhuizen

BirdLife International, in order to concentrate its conservation efforts, has identified areas of high bird endemism throughout the world and classified these as Endemic Bird Areas. Costa Rica and the Panama Highlands are one of the richest of these Endemic Bird Areas, with no less than 55 endemics. This unique tour has been specially designed to seek out most of these endemics whilst staying at comfortable birding lodges and visiting areas protecting large swathes of cloudforest. We have also timed this tour to take in the world’s largest raptor migration spectacle which channels through this narrow isthmus, a truly incredible phenomenon to encounter. Many birders would have visited Costa Rica or Panama before, but even if you have done both of them, this tour will add numerous birds to your lifelist, from hard to find recently recognised endemics in Costa Rica to specials restricted to volcano peaks in remote regions of northern Panama.

The bird endemism of this area is legendary, not only represented by a high number of endemics (and overall bird diversity) but also by the fact that many of these birds have been genetically isolated and are therefore ancient relics with no close relatives. The cute Zeledonia (previously known as the Wrenthrush) has now been recognized in its own monotypic bird family, and seven other genera are restricted entirely to this area: Panterpe (Fiery-throated Hummingbird), Elvira (White-tailed and Coppery-headed Emerald), Phainoptila (Black-and-yellow Phainoptila – previously Silky-flycatcher), Thryorchilus (the charming Timberline Wren), Pezopetes (Large-footed Finch), Pselliophorus (Yellow-thighed and Yellow-green Finch) and Acanthidops (Peg-billed Finch). Other target endemics include Black Guan, a total of 10 hummingbirds (including the Endangered and highly range restricted Glow-throated Hummingbird), Bare-shanked Screech Owl, the strange Prong-billed Barbet, Bare-necked Umbrellabird, Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher, Blue-and-gold and Spangle-cheeked Tanager, Cabanis’s Ground Sparrow and Volcano Junco. Other highlights may include the Resplendent Quetzal whose reputation precedes itself, Black-crested and White-crested Coquettes, Orange-collared Manakin, Fiery-billed Aracari, Black-faced Antthrush, Isthmian Wren, Black-cheeked Ant Tanager (restricted to the Osa Peninsula), Baird’s Trogon and Three-wattled Bellbird, Snowy Cotinga, Chriqui Yellowthroat and Nicaraguan Seedfinch.

We kick off in small nation of Costa Rica that has geared itself heavily towards avitourism and therefore developed a superb infrastructure to service the numerous visiting birders. And with over 850 species it is easy to understand why! The backbone of the country is formed by a scenic mountain range, and here the cloud forests are home to most of the aforementioned endemic birds. We will also dip into the Pacific lowlands on our tour, and we can look forward to many striking species of trogons, toucans, motmots and hummingbirds, among many other spectacular birds.

Departing Costa Rica, we enter the Chiriqui Highlands of Panama searching for further highland forest endemics. The final leg of our tour is spent on the idyllic Bocas del Toro archipelago, at the aptly named Tranquilo Bay Lodge, enjoying the staggering scenery and some equally incredible birding. Here we will focus on Caribbean lowland and mid-elevation species as well as hopefully connecting with the river of raptors that move through this area at this time of year. Thrilling birding, quality lodges and a relaxed pace make this tour perfect for anyone who has yet to experience the exciting avifauna of Central America or for those who have an appetite for a repeat taste!

CAMBODIA – MEGA BIRDING TOUR

01 – 14 Feb 2019 (14 days)
Price: USD4,600 *GBP3,242 *EUR3,722
Tour Leader: Christopher Bradshaw

The tour covers the spectacular and world-renowned temples of Angkor Watt before visiting all of Cambodia’s key birding localities. The famous Prek Toal water-bird colony and sanctuary at the north-westerly edge of Tonle Sap Lake will offer us the best opportunity to observe the sought-after Greater and Lesser Adjutants, Milky Stork and Grey-headed Fish Eagle. We can expect to find a large population of wintering Sarus Cranes at Ang Trapaeng Thmor before moving onwards to Tmatboey via the Florican grasslands for the Critically Endangered Bengal Florican, Giant and White-shouldered Ibises, Blossom-headed Parakeet, Black-headed Woodpecker, White-rumped Falcon and Spotted Wood Owl. The forests around Okoki will hopefully produce the rare and endangered White-winged Duck, Bar-bellied Pitta, Oriental Bay Owl and Blyth’s Frogmouth, and with a bit of luck, the rare and elusive Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo. A boat trip on the Mekong River near Kratie should yield the localized Mekong Wagtail; while a short stop in and around the outskirts of Phnom Penh will give us the recently discovered Cambodian Tailorbird before we head to Mount Aural. The lush, evergreen forests that cloak the mountain are home to the endemic Cambodian Laughingthrush and near-endemic Chestnut-headed Partridge. Finally, we conclude the tour at an area of remote grasslands, where we hope to find the very rare Chinese Grassbird and little-known Manchurian Reed Warbler, with chances too of the seldom-seen Asian Golden Weaver.

JAPAN – SPRING HIGHLIGHTS

16 – 27 May 2019 (12 days)
Price: TBA
Tour Leader: Chris Sharpe

Our Highlights of Japan tour during spring takes in the very best of what Japan has to offer during this fabulous time of year, when all of the country’s resident species and summer migrants are present and actively singing, displaying and nesting – indeed a magical time to visit ‘The Land of the Rising Sun’. The wetlands and forests on Honshu support the extremely localized Japanese Marsh Warbler, Japanese Reed Bunting, Long-billed Plover, Latham’s Snipe, endemic Copper and Japanese Green Pheasants, Japanese Green Woodpecker, Japanese Yellow Bunting, Japanese and Brown-headed Thrushes, Japanese Grosbeak and Japanese Accentor, all of which will be targets on this trip. On the offshore island of Miyake-jima, we hope to find the richly-colored and endemic Izu Thrush and Owston’s Tit; while other specialties include Japanese Wood Pigeon, Styan’s Grasshopper Warbler and Ijima’s Leaf Warbler. We conclude the main part of this Japan Spring Highlights tour in the Ryukyu Islands, where we spend our time on the small islands of Okinawa and Amami in search of a host of exciting endemics and near-endemics. The endangered Okinawa (Pryer’s) Woodpecker, recently discovered and highly threatened Okinawa Rail, stunning Ryukyu Robin, Ryukyu Minivet, Amami Woodcock, Lidth’s Jay and Amami Thrush are just some of the islands’ tantalizing species that we will be searching for during our explorations there!

COLOMBIA – NORTHERN ENDEMICS OF SANTA MARTA AND PERIJA

15 – 25 Oct 2019 (11 days)
Price: USD4,800 *GBP3,383 *EUR3,884
Tour Leader: Clayton Burne

Colombia has more bird species than any other country; a staggering 1,900 species occur within the confines of this incredible nation, of which over 90 are endemic! Our endemics-laden tour of Northern Colombia takes us to the Santa Marta Mountains and the Guajira Peninsula on the northern coast of Colombia, as well as the recently explored Perija range on the Venezuelan border. The Santa Marta massif is an isolated mountain range and its snow-capped peaks are the highest coastal mountains in the world. It is also one of the most endemic-rich regions of South America, hosting nearly 50 endemics and regional specialties plus numerous endemic subspecies (several of which, upon further taxonomic review, are likely to be elevated to full species status in the future). We spend time at both low and high elevations of the Perija Range, birding near Valledupar before basing ourselves at the Chamicero Reserve. The reserve was purchased in 2014 after the discovery of good forest tracts on accessible land for the entire suite of Sierra de Perija endemics, including the yet-to-be-described Perija Tapaculo and another 35 subspecies that need further research. The local forms of Golden-bellied Starfrontlet, Emerald Toucanet, Rufous Spinetail and Rufous Antpitta are all proposed splits that require more conclusive documentation.

GUYANA – BIRDS & WILDLIFE 2017

There are few flights more impressive than the one from Kaieteur Falls (largest single-drop falls on Earth) to Iwokrama. Guyana is one of the wildest, least developed and best-conserved countries in the world. On the flight, you gaze out over hundreds of miles of mountains, savannahs, and never-ending forests unbroken by the hand of man. The wilderness that makes up more than 80% of the country is something exceptional to behold on our planet, where mankind is seemingly everywhere.

Our trip was timed to coincide with the dry season. However, in the last couple of decades, long-established patterns of rainfall have changed markedly, possibly disrupted by global climate change. This year, even though we were in the dry season, we experienced a few storms and a low-pressure system hovered over us at Atta Lodge, producing some drizzle and light rain in the mornings. However, the rain boosted afternoon activity and the sunny morning we did have provided a parade of amazing sights and continuous activity. Overall, it was outstanding! The temperatures were the most pleasant I’ve experienced anywhere in the greater Amazonian/Guianan region.

Highlights of our trip included the following: prolonged views of Black and Crestless Curassows, several Agami Herons, observing a Zigzag Heron fishing from low viny roots at our leisure (sighting of the trip, possibly), Pinnated Bittern in display flight, a fledgling Harpy Eagle in its nest tree calling for food, a Crested Eagle stalking Grey-winged Trumpeters (of which we saw 4 flocks during the tour), great looks at Sungrebe, multiple encounters with Least Nighthawks and White-tailed Nightjars, and seventeen species of hummingbirds, including a feisty Crimson Topaz on territory and a pair of Fiery-tailed Awlbills (first for Rockjumper here!). We saw thirteen species of woodpeckers, including all four gorgeous Celeus, both Barred and Lined Forest Falcons at Atta, twenty species of psittacids (Red-fan Parrots and both Red-and-green and Scarlet Macaws were so commonly seen as to seem mundane), spectacular encounter with a pair of Black-throated Antshrikes amongst the 29 species of antshrikes, antwrens, and antbirds encountered, and more cotinga species than imaginable.

We enjoyed fabulous looks at multiple Guianan Red Cotingas, Guianan Cock-of-the-rock at a lek and at magnificent Kaieteur Falls: Purple-breasted, Spangled and Pompadour Cotingas, spectacular Crimson Fruitcrow, lekking Capuchinbirds (best bird sound on Earth!), and a wonderfully entertaining encounter with a jaw-dropping pair of rare Blue-backed Tanagers. Mammals were relatively few on this particular tour, for some reason, though none of us could imagine the encounter we would have with Giant Anteater on our final morning of the tour: one came within but a few feet of participants as it searched for a place to pass the heat of the day. All-in-all, this was one of the most exciting tours I’ve ever done, and one of the most productive for birding in Guyana.

COLOMBIA – HIGHLIGHTS II 2017

The three ranges of the Andes of Colombia and the adjacent lowlands are home to the most diverse avifauna on earth, and the Colombia Highlights tour targets these areas in search of the endemic and spectacular species that can be found here. Staying in a diverse range of hotels – from downtown in cities to rural lodges or small typical Andean towns – we explored some of the most beautiful landscapes and habitats found in the Andes and the Magdalena and Cauca valleys that separate them.

With just 12 days in the area, we managed a seriously impressive list of 448 bird species, including 23 Colombian endemics. Our top ten birds of the tour included the likes of Black-bellied Mountain Toucan, Buffy Helmetcrest, Yellow-headed Parrot, Long-tailed Sylph and Golden-bellied Starfrontlet.

We started at Laguna Pedropalo, where one of the first birds we saw was the threatened endemic, Turquoise Dacnis. A female Cerulean Warbler was also a lifer for most. An afternoon at the hummingbird feeders at Chicaque yielded 6 species, including one of our top ten: Golden-bellied Starfrontlet. The fantastic paramos and forests of Chingaza National Park yielded the likes of the endemic Rufous-browed Hemispingus, Black-billed Mountain Tanager, Glowing and Coppery-bellied Pufflegs, White-browed Spinetail and Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanagers. The Hummingbird Observatory near La Calera resulted in good looks at 9 species of hummingbird. At the amazing Jardin Encantado (Enchanted Garden), we marveled at the numbers and diversity of hummingbirds that can inhabit a small suburban garden. We saw 14 species!

We started one morning by birding the Rio Claro Valley, quickly getting to grips with Chestnut-backed Antbird and Barred Puffbird. The endemic Magdalena Antbird took more work, but we were rewarded with reasonable looks at a male before breakfast. We headed to the Gruta del Condor for a delightful experience of walking down a creek to the cave, where we saw about 10 Oilbirds well and could hear more further in. The walk also gave us good views of Chestnut-headed Oropendola, Pacific Antwren, Fulvous-vented Euphonia and an amazingly confiding endemic, a male Velvet-fronted Euphonia. Descending into the Cauca Valley, we saw Flame-rumped Tanagers and Acorn Woodpeckers. The rainshadow forests of the Cauca Valley gave us nice looks at a pair of the endemic Greyish Piculet and eventually the endemic and only recently described Antioquia Wren. We spent a day in the forests of the Rio Blanco Reserve above the town of Manizales. Soon after arrival, we found Buff-breasted Mountain Tanager and a Masked Saltator – an inexplicably rare bird for which Rio Blanco is probably the best site.

It was then Antpitta time, and the 3 feeding stations we visited gave us 4 species. One of the main targets for Los Nevados National Park was the very local Buffy Helmetcrest, and we saw a couple with a male performing very well for us repeatedly. The same area gave everyone good looks at Tawny Antpitta. We made a last attempt to find the endemic Parker’s Antbird that we had only heard distantly. Eventually, we found a pair and had reasonable looks at this secretive endemic before we headed to the airport for the end of the tour.

Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival Jan 24 – 29
By Ric Zarwell

The festival was once again a noteworthy and fun-filled event in January 2018. Numerous attendees visited our Rockjumper Worldwide Birding Adventures booth, and many delivered excited stories of previous tours with our expert tour leaders. A dozen or more couples spoke glowingly of upcoming tours booked for later in 2018. It is always a joy to engage with previous clients and those who are excited to join the Rockjumper club of well-satisfied clients. The Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival is always one of the busiest and best-attended festivals in the U.S. and this year was no different. I’m looking forward to another such event in 2019 and invite everyone to visit our booth.

Mass Audubon Annual Birder’s Meeting Mar 11
Ever since 1992, birders from around New England have come together every March to attend Mass Audubon’s annual Birders Meeting, and in 2018 Rockjumper was proud to serve as lead sponsor again. George Armistead was on hand, attending the event for the second year in a row. The meeting featured a number of engaging speakers, top-notch vendors and enthusiastic participants, this is always a great day-long event in Boston. The theme for the 26th Annual Birders Meeting was Highlands and Islands of New England: A Bird’s-Eye-View, and featured the ecology of these habitats and their significance to birds and birders. Congrats to our friends at Mass Audubon on another fantastic year and another fabulous birder’s meeting.

Wings Over Water Northwest Birding Festival March 16 -18

Celebrating their 16^th year, the annual Wings Over Water Birding Festival in Blaine, Washington, celebrates the incredible variety of migratory birds that flock to the coastal waters of Drayton Harbor, Birch Bay and Semiahmoo Bay. The Washington Brant Foundation started the Brant Festival in Blaine and Birch Bay in 2002 because of their concern about the continuous decline in waterfowl populations due to habitat loss. The festival changed its name in 2005 to Wings Over Water Northwest to include the large number of marine bird species that migrate here during spring migration. Due to the festival’s success, it became a 501c3 in 2008 and continues to celebrate the annual festival every March. The mission today is to promote conservation, education and stewardship of the birds and their habitat in the Pacific Northwest as well as encourage ecotourism to support the economy. Participants had endless entertainment from a great variety of field trips, workshops, at the reception, the art exhibits and still more. Rockjumper was thrilled to make our first appearance at this remarkable event!

New River Birding & Nature Festival April 30 – May 5

Since 2002, the annual New River Birding & Nature Festival takes place in and around the New River Gorge National River in West Virginia. Here, the heart of the upland, hardwood forests provide crucial stopover and nesting habitat for the continued survival of species such as Golden-winged, Blue-winged, and Swainson’s Warbler, as well as the Scarlet Tanager. This birding and nature-watching festival highlights more than 100 bird species. Think of it as a five-star nature vacation that is chock full of birds, and not overrun with people, and where the Swainson’s Warbler – which can be so difficult elsewhere – makes regular appearances in the Rhododendron and dense understory along the Appalachian slopes. A friendly birding vacation for everyone, the week-long event features guided birding excursions, world-class speakers, the finest collection of guides, tasty food, and a back-porch atmosphere unmatched by any other birding festival. Rockjumper’s George Armistead will be on hand as a guide and a speaker, and is fired up to assist the remarkable array of leaders and other guests.

We spent the rest of the day moving southwards to Eilat as we visited sewage works, a lake, kibbutzs, endless deserts, sewage works and more sewage works….. In the end we recorded 161 species, somewhat less than what we hoped for but most importantly, we raised $7,811 for conservation and we’d like to thank everyone who generously donated to our fundraising efforts. #COTF2018 is not just a race, but much more so a monument to bird conservation, and Rockjumper tour leader Yoav Perlman has been instrumental in the founding of this event. Now in its 5^th year, the event has made an incredible impact on the lives of migratory birds through the Mediterranean and the Middle East. In previous years, many thousands of dollars were raised to protect migratory birds in Georgia, Cypress, Greece and Turkey. This year, all funds raised for COTF went directly to confronting the illegal killing of birds in Croatia and Serbia. These COTF funds will support data collection on bird-crime related issues and promote the conservation of birds and wildlife. Both of the conservation partners (BirdLife Croatia and Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia) are keen to include law enforcement officers in workshops, training and field actions.

African Bird Club App

Rockjumper has partnered with African Bird Club on another exciting app project to aid in the conservation, communication and education about Africa’s birds. The app will be available on the Apple App Store and Google Play in the coming months.

As a member of the Rockjumper mailing list, you will be given exclusive access (along with ABC members) to download this app before its public release. So watch this space!

To get this project off the ground, Rockjumper had the privilege of contributing an initial amount of £10,000, running expenses of up to £1,000 per annum, and a large volume of images.

Below is a message from John Caddick and the African Bird Club:

“We are delighted to announce our support for the African Bird Club (ABC) in its development of an App for African birds. This is an exciting new venture which aims to increase people’s environmental awareness and their appreciation of nature.

The objective of the App is to represent birds in a way that is stimulating, interactive and fun and as a result, change people’s perceptions of the natural world. It is intended to reach as many users as possible in Africa. It will be an ABC asset which meets the Club’s primary objectives of education, communication and the conservation of Africa’s birds.

The vision is for the app to be an All Africa field guide. It will include all species and major subspecies known from the African region i.e. the region covered by ABC, which is the mainland of Africa and offshore islands in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Photographs, calls, text and maps will be included for each species and subspecies.

Potential users of the app will include anyone with an interest in birds of the region. This will include ornithologists, research workers, students, birders, field workers, site wardens and all lovers of nature. It will be available as a free download to anyone with a Smartphone or Tablet, thus allowing it to reach many people who are not able to afford a traditional field guide which can cost as much as a month’s wages for an African field worker.

This is a large project which requires significant content provision and technical development: as such, it is necessary to structure the project in phases. The first phase, for which development is well underway, is the provision of a field guide app for Mauritius and Rodrigues. These islands were chosen for several reasons: they have a relatively small species checklist, many of the species have been photographed locally and ABC has good relations with the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation. The planned launch of the Birds of Mauritius is late April. Sample photograph and text pages are shown below.

The second phase of the project is to develop the Birds of Nigeria and other countries in West Africa. Such a venture needs resources to succeed and help will be required from ABC members and others to provide photographs, calls and text; to check content; to help with testing and many other areas.

If you would like to help with any of these tasks or find out more about the project, please contact John Caddick john@caddick.com or website@africanbirdclub.org.”

Rare Bird Club Antarctica Cruise with BirdLife

Letter from Gilly Banks

“BirdLife International gratefully acknowledges the generous support received from Rockjumper Birding as a contribution to BirdLife’s Global Penguin Conservation Programme, which has been realised as a result of our collaborative cruise with One Ocean Expeditions to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica from 03-20 February 2018.

Penguins are a remarkable, much-loved, colorful and characterful group of flightless birds found only in the Southern Hemisphere. They occupy, and in places dominate, some of the harshest habitats on earth. After albatrosses, they are unfortunately the second most threatened group of seabirds, with 10 of 18 species threatened with extinction. They face an array of threats, including overexploitation of prey fish by fisheries, bycatch in fisheries, predation by invasive species and habitat loss. Climate change provides a worrying backdrop with as yet unknown, but potentially severe, impacts.

In response to this challenging situation, Rockjumper Birding has supported BirdLife International with the implementation of its Global Penguin Campaign which is (1) protecting important colonies through predator control, habitat restoration and enhancing biosecurity, as well as establishing new colonies where appropriate; (2) identifying the most important places at sea for penguins and advocating for their protection and improved management as marine protected areas; (3) working to tackle bycatch in fisheries, and carrying out scientific and advocacy work to improve fisheries management; (4) monitoring the status of penguins and their movements to assess the effectiveness of conservation work and promote greater action, and (5) supporting BirdLife Partners in countries with penguin populations to build national capacity in order to strengthen their conservation work for penguins.

Once again, BirdLife International expresses our gratitude to Rockjumper.”

Kruger Bird and Wildlife Challenge

We are thrilled to launch an epic birding and wildlife event that promises to provide:

• first class birding in one of the world’s great untouched wildernesses; South Africa’s jewel, the Kruger National Park, which we will explore from top to bottom;
• unrivalled wildlife experiences, including the famous Big Five;
• small groups guided by an expert birder as well as a professional Kruger driver-guide in an open safari vehicle;
• a fun challenge to try find and identify as many bird and mammal species, with each species being awarded points based on rarity;
• meeting and spending time with many other like-minded birders and conservationists;
• exciting prizes; and
• MOST IMPORTANTLY helping to raise much-needed funds to snatch the Critically Endangered White-winged Flufftail from the brink of extinction (all profits from this challenge will be donated to the Middelpunt Wetland Trust managed by BirdLife South Africa for the conservation of the White-winged Flufftail. Rockjumper is donating its time and expertise to arrange and manage this event.)

If this sounds like fun to you, then don’t hesitate to join us on the great Kruger Bird and Wildlife Challenge from 6^th – 15^th February 2019. Further details are to be found in the itinerary.

We have a maximum capacity for 21 teams consisting of 9 people. The cost of participating is R22,950 (approximately US$1,950 at current exchange rates). If you put together your own team of 9, then you will be rewarded with a 50% discount on your participation.

Please contact Sarah Dell on sarah@rockjumperbirding.com to register your interest.

BirdLife South Africa, the Middelpunt Wetland Trust and Rockjumper Birding Tours are looking forward to sharing this meaningful but fun challenge with you.

White-winged Flufftail Letter from BirdLife South Africa

Towards the end of 2017, the Rockjumper staff were split into four teams to raise money for the White-winged Flufftail; a little-known, Critically Endangered species that appears to migrate between Ethiopia and our home country, South Africa.

The end result was more than rewarding, when we heard the following feedback from Dr Hanneline Smit-Robinson of BirdLife South Africa:

22 December 2017

Dear Megan and Team Rockjumper

To say we were astounded by the incredible sum of money raised towards White-winged Flufftail conservation by Team Rockjumper, as part of your fundraising attempts during 2017, is an understatement. These funds will be utilized towards the planned construction of the White-winged Flufftail Research Facility at the National Zoological Gardens (Zoo), Pretoria.

We sincerely appreciate your unflagging support towards the conservation of this Critically Endangered species.

We would like to wish you and your families a joyful festive season and all the very best for 2018.

Kind regards

Dr Hanneline Smit-Robinson

Manager: Terrestrial Bird Conservation Programme/Oppenheimer Fellow of Conservation

ORYX Photographic Expeditions

It’s a new year and new season for ORYX!

The last portion of 2017 ended with visits to 8 different countries across Africa, Asia and Antarctica. We had the privilege of taking our clients through the rainforests of Madagascar, on culture-enriching journeys to Ethiopia, on gorilla treks in Rwanda, on a cruise to bewildering Antarctica and on luxurious safaris in picturesque Botswana, Kenya and South Africa.

As the year moves forward, ORYX’s other new photo expeditions include a visit to Kamchatka, the land of fire and ice, a photo safari to Savute and Khwai in Botswana and a dedicated private photo camp to capture the beautiful Suri Tribes in Omo Valley of Ethiopia. We have also implemented some thrilling “big cat” tours for 2019, that include an expedition to photograph the Pumas of Patagonia and Snow Leopards in Ladakh. A few more exciting destinations lie in wait for our guests, which will be revealed soon….watch this space!

With the massive growth that we’ve seen over the past few months, we have also brought on 4 new ORYX Photo Tour Partners from across the globe. Welcome to the team Mike Dexter, Bezhad Larry, Jessica Tingley and Varun Aditya! Exceptional photographers in their own right, each possessing a skill-set which we believe will take the company to new heights.

Our resolution for 2018 was to expand our horizons and, so far, ORYX is definitely going places! We cannot wait for our clients to join us on this magnificent journey so that we can all live out our photographic dreams.

Rockjumper Wildlife Tours

Rockjumper Wildlife Tours continues to make positive strides forward, and 2018 will be to be our biggest year to date. Over the past few months, we have operated a number of exciting private and scheduled safaris. These included Rwanda – where time spent with impressive Mountain Gorillas was the undoubted highlight, Madagascar – where a plethora of lemurs and other unique wildlife was showcased, Kenya – with fabulous views of the classic African predators stealing the show together with many other exciting mammals and some wonderful lodges and scenery, South Africa – our home country, which continues to serve up fabulous wildlife viewing opportunities at excellent value for money, and Namibia – where the group enjoyed some of the most extraordinary scenery and game viewing, unlike anywhere else on the planet.