After several birding trips to South America and Asia we decided Africa would be de next continent. Rob had been to Ethiopia before (in 2011) but for Helen it was the first Africa-experience. We chose South Africa because it is very rich in endemics, has both birds and wildlife, it has the possibility to join a pelagic and furthermore the country is easy to travel around independently by car. In total we saw 470 species.
Since Martijn Hammers, Sjoerd Radstaak and Mark de Vries were in Sabah (Borneo) around this time (as a part of their longer trip) we decided to join them for a bit. Because they had more time we decided we would join them in Danum (and do Sepilok & Kinabatangan by ourselves while they were already there). After Danum we went to Mt. Kinabalu together, from where we travelled back, and they went on to Poring and Rafflesia.
Southern India: 2 weeks: October/November
This was our first trip to India and since we had heard good things about the South we planned a two week trip to South India. Due to work obligations we could not go any later than the last two weeks of October, which was a bit tricky since this was at the ending of the monsoon period. We managed to see all our main target which included all South India endemics. India is a beautiful country and besides all the special birds there are, we also really enjoyed the friendly people, delicious food and beautiful scenery.
Helen started with a two month stint volunteering for Las Gralarias.Las Gralarias newsletter
Some photo’s of the birds at Las Gralarias
After this Rob joined Helen and we birded Northern Ecuador for four weeks (Februari 18th- March 17):
Las Gralarias, Bellavista, Mashpi, Mindo, Angel Paz, Milpe, Rio Silanche, Mango Loma, Sani Lodge, Wild Sumaco, Gareno lodge, San Isidro/Huacamayos ridge, Papallacta (including visit to Guango lodge).
While visiting a friend in Colorado Springs Helen had the opportunity to do some birding on the side. Most birding time was spent in Garden of the Gods, a big public park close to Colorado Springs. Highlight there were Prairie Falcon, Canyon Wren and Juniper Titmouse.
And by missing her flight connection in Houston some additional birds were added near the airport.
South America was high on our wishlist of birding destinations. After some research we chose the North of Peru as our first encounter with the continent (we did have some experience with the birdspecies from previous trips to Mexico and Costa Rica).
Peru is an excellent destination for an independent birding trip (although speaking some Spanish makes it easier). Beautiful varied landscape, cheap and most important: lots of endemic species. We saw 528 species in four weeks.
This trip was undertaken by Thomas and Nienke Lameris (brother and sister), Helen Rijkes and Niels Bot. After knowing each other for several years, being together in the same youth association (JNM), and after making several trips independently, we decided to go on a birdwatching trip together. We choose Turkey as our destiny due to the large amount of great bird species that could be seen here, inspiring stories of friends and the relatively low travel costs. Because we were all still studying at that moment and having not much money to spent, we also decided to do the complete trip by public transport. Therefore, we were not able to visit all the birding spots that could have been reached in the same time span using a car, but with good planning we managed to see a great deal of all the species that the area has to offer including the endemics.
A short (family) trip to Portugal with some nice birding on the side.
Spring weekend trip around Uppsala (Sweden), mainly in search of owls.
Eurasian Pygmy Owl
Great Grey Owl
Ural Owl
Three-toed woodpecker
Siberian jay
This is a report of a 24-day independent birding trip to Ethiopia by 5 Dutch friends. We rented a Jeep with driver, but without local guide. Because we still wanted to see all the good birds, we invested a lot of time in preparation of the trip. In the end, we were pretty successful as we recorded over 550 species, including all possible endemics (ok ok, we skipped Nechisar Nightjar). Doing an independent trip is thus definitely feasible, as a few other groups before us have also demonstrated. If your birding and/or preparation time is more limited, however, it’s probably better to take a local guide along, or join one of the many available tours.
Tripreport including triplist Warning: large file
GPS-data on a map
GPS-datatable
Photo’s
Penguinbirding 
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