India: the South and the Andaman Islands Sunday 29 November to Sunday 13 December with post tour extension to the Andaman Islands to Sunday 20 December 2009 with Paul Holt and a local assistant as leaders. Please note that this tour will alternate with India: the West - Gujarat and the Rann of Kutch and will therefore run in 2009 and again in 2011.
Cost: £2400 plus about £740 for flights with Andaman Islands extension: £4390 plus about £740 for flights Click here for explanation of price breakdown |
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India has long fascinated naturalists and travellers alike and it is easy to see why. The fabulously rich wildlife and the cultural and geographic diversity make India a fascinating place to visit again and again. Compared to the north, southern India has been relatively poorly explored by visiting birdwatchers, a fact that is all the more surprising considering that a large number of the birds are either endemic to peninsular India or are shared only with neighbouring Sri Lanka. Southern India is strikingly different to the north in so many ways and life is seemingly more relaxed and a good deal more genteel. The South’s magnificent coastline is caressed by balmy tropical winds and nurtured by monsoon rains. On this tour we’ll visit some of southern India’s startlingly rich nature reserves and spectacular resorts in search of the region’s special birds. We’ll visit India’s three southernmost states, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where we’ll watch birds near tea plantations in the Western Ghats and Nilgiri mountains, study waders on the Coromandel coast and hunt for endemics in several of the region’s best national parks. We’ll also be offering an exciting optional excursion to the sun-drenched, tropical paradise that are the Andaman Islands, an archipelago closer to Myanmar than the Indian mainland and home to some further 19 endemics. Day 1: The tour begins with a morning flight from London to Cochin (Kochi), the capital of mystical Kerala. We’ll arrive in the early hours of Day 2. Day 2: We’ll have a brief stop in Cochin before driving up to Ooty (short for Ootacamund). Perched up at 7250 feet Ooty is southern India’s premier hill station and a retreat from the oppressive summer heat of the plains. Our route takes us through a patchwork of agricultural fields, wetlands and arid waste ground. We’ll make several stops and search for such our first southern Indian specialities on our ascent to this sprawling, almost colonial town, high in the towering Nilgiris. Night in Ooty, a modern, bustling city that has a distinctly faded colonial charm. Day 3: We’ll spend the whole day around Ooty exploring a variety of areas close to the town and concentrating on finding some of the region’s higher altitude specialities such as Black-chinned Laughingthrush, Black-and-orange Flycatcher, Nilgiri Woodpigeon, Indian Blackbird and the skulking, but not uncommon, Nilgiri Blue Robin. We may also see our first strikingly patterned Nilgiri Langurs today. Night in Ooty. Day 4: Leaving Ooty and the Nilgiri Hills we’ll descend a short distance into the plains to our next accommodation just outside Mudumalai National Park. We’ll stop to search for such delights as Nilgiri Thrush (a recent ‘split’ from the White’s and Scaly Thrush complex) as well as Nilgiri Flycatcher, Malabar Lark, White-bellied Minivet and Booted Warbler. As with many of India’s Tiger reserves, access in Mudumalai National Park is restricted and we’ll spend much of our time exploring areas of dry deciduous forest and thorny scrub outside the park, searching for a variety of species including Red Spurfowl, both Grey-fronted and Yellow-footed Green-pigeons, Blue-faced Malkoha, Grey-headed Bulbul, Tawny-bellied Babbler and the elusive Painted Bush-quail. Up to 12 species of woodpecker can be found here and Mudumalai is also our best site for Indian Pitta. We'll spend two nights just outside the reserve. Days 5-6: Venturing away from Mudumalai we’ll explore two very different areas today, one an area of lowland, moist evergreen forest where we hope to find species such as Indian Rufous and Dark-fronted Babblers, Indian Blue Robin and, if we’re very lucky, the enigmatic White-naped Tit. Later in the day we’ll visit an area of scrub and arid grassland in search of specialities typical of the extensive tracts of dry deciduous forest. The latter include the endemic Grey Junglefowl, Pallid Harrier, White-eyed Buzzard and Blyth's Pipit. We’ll return to Ooty for the night during the afternoon of Day 6. Day 7: We’ll leave Ooty and drive back down to the plains, through the bustling textile city of Coimbatore before climbing back up to Munnar, another hill station, but this time more famous for its tea than its tourism. We'll spend two nights at a comfortable lodge near Munnar. Day 8: Munnar is a convenient and comfortable base from which to explore the Rajamalai Sanctuary (part of the unique Eravikulam National Park) well above the highest of the tea plantations. The sanctuary consists of areas of high rolling grassy hills interspersed with valleys dotted with small patches of shola evergreen forest - a distinctive and biologically rich habitat and home to a number of equally specialised endemics. Once again we’ll concentrate on the region’s endemics, notably White-bellied Blue Robin, Kerala Laughingthrush and Nilgiri Pipit. Rajamalai is also a spectacular setting in which to search for Painted Bush-quail, Indian Scimitar-babbler and Nilgiri Flycatcher among many others. We are almost certain to encounter some of the rare Nilgiri Tahr, a large wild goat endemic to the grass hills of southern India. Day 9: This morning we’ll leave Munnar and make a stop to search for another of the region’s endemics, Yellow-throated Bulbul, before continuing south to Periyar Sanctuary in the Cardamom Hills where we’ll spend three nights. Days 10-11: Periyar is probably the best known and most popular wildlife reserve in southern India and at 800 square kilometres is undoubtedly one of the subcontinent’s largest. From our base beside the sprawling multi-fingered lake in the centre of the reserve, we’ll explore many of its vast and varied habitats. The ornithological pace will be fast and furious and could include endemics or near-endemics such as Malabar Grey Hornbill, White-bellied Treepie, Wynaad Laughingthrush, Malabar Barbet, Yellow-browed Bulbul, Indian Rufous Babbler, Malabar Whistling-thrush or perhaps even a Ceylon Frogmouth or an Indian Pitta. Other targets include Great Hornbill, White-bellied and Heart-spotted Woodpeckers, Malabar Parakeet and Malabar Woodshrike while in the evening we'll search for some of the region's night birds. All our birding highlights may be rivalled by our many mammal sightings. Days 12: Leaving Periyar we’ll have a relatively short drive to Thattekad, another sanctuary in Kerala and one that's more visitor friendly. Thattekad shares many of the same birds as Periyar but some, perhaps more notably the night birds are easier to see here. Consequently we'll spend part of at least one night searching for specialities such as Brown Fish-owl, Ceylon Frogmouth and perhaps even Ceylon Bay Owl! Night at Thattekad. Day 13: Spending a full day in this reserve we'll have plenty of time to search for species such as Malabar Grey Hornbill, gaudy Malabar Barbet, Yellow-browed and Flame-throated Bulbuls, White-bellied Blue Flycatcher and Black-throated Munia all occur here as does the attractive Asian Fairy Bluebird and the vociferous Lesser Hill-myna. Night at Thattekad. Day 14: Today we'll head back down to the lowlands arriving in Cochin in time for lunch. In the afternoon we’ll head out into Cochin, a former Portuguese colonial town and now one of India’s largest ports and naval bases. We’ll have a chance to do some more birding, perhaps searching for a few waders such as Broad-billed and Terek Sandpipers though some of our time will be spent exploring the sights of this historic Portuguese settlement, visiting some of the 500-year old houses and the cantilevered Chinese fishing nets. Day 15: Those not opting to continue to the Andamans will then fly back to London arriving later that same day. Those taking the Andamans extension will instead fly to Chennai (Madras). Andaman Islands extension Day 15: We’ll spend the morning in Cochin before taking a flight to Madras on India’s eastern seaboard. We should have an opportunity to look around the city and to search for a few extra species such as Asian Koel, Jacobin Cuckoo, Yellow-billed Babbler, Purple-rumped and Long-billed Sunbirds. Night in Madras. Day 16: This morning we’ll fly from Madras to Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. We’ll transfer to our hotel and commence our exploration of these remote and rarely visited islands. Days 17-20: Lying on the ancient trade route between India and the Far East, the islands are part of a mostly submarine mountain ridge joining Myanmar with Sumatra. There are 204 islands in all and much of their surface is still covered in pristine rainforest. The main islands, the ones where we’ll concentrate our activities, are surprisingly rugged and yet possess some gorgeous and exotic palm-fringed beaches. No doubt these will distract some of us from the islands’ fascinating avifauna which is a mixture of Indian and south Asian species, with about 19 endemics. Our stay should enable us to see a high proportion of these, perhaps including the imaginatively named Andaman Serpent-eagle, Andaman Woodpigeon, Andaman Cuckoo-dove, Andaman Green-pigeon, Andaman Coucal, Andaman Woodpecker, Andaman Treepie, Andaman Serpent-eagle and Andaman Drongo. We’ll spend time searching for some of the archipelago’s night birds – the scops-owl, the two hawk-owls and the nightjar and a wealth of waders and migrants can also be expected. Day 21: Today we’ll catch a morning flight back to Madras where we’ll connect with another flight back to Cochin. Day 22: Today we’ll catch a flight back to London where the tour concludes.
E-mail or phone +44 (0)1767 262522 for availability.
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