Wildlife holidays in the Americas
Fall colours, Quebec, Canada by Paul Stanbury
North, South and Central America offer a mouth-watering bonanza of wildlife habitats, cultures and opportunities to suit all tastes and constitutions! The Amazon, the world's largest forest; two great mountain ranges, the Rockies and the Andes (the longest mountain chain on Earth); the dramatic landscapes of Patagonia; the wilds of the Canadian Arctic, and the spectacular deserts of Arizona; these diverse landscapes contribute to a tapestry of staggering variety and superlatives. The cultures and history of the Americas, too, are every bit as rich. We meet native 'Indians', and visit such world renowned sites as the Mayan ruins of Tikal and the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu, in Peru. The region also offers us a wonderful and varied selection of bases, and we make the most of comfortable cattle ranches, state-of-the-art rainforest lodges, elegant schooners, and more traditional hotels and motels.
South America, with climatic, altitudinal and geographical extremes as wide as any, holds more bird species than any other continent. Andean Cock-of-the-rock, Andean Condor and numerous hummingbirds and macaws are just some of the avian highlights we can expect to find as our tours explore the Venezuelan Llanos, the High Andes and Amazon rainforests of Ecuador and Peru, the Brazilian Pantanal (a swamp the size of England!), Guyana, the stunning Iguazu Falls and the Patagonian coastlines of Chile and Argentina. Off-shore islands, such as the Falklands and the Galapagos, offer the perfect tour for the photographer, and all other wildlife enthusiasts. Indeed, our outstanding 2-week cruise of the Galapagos, aboard a splendid schooner is, we firmly believe, second to none!
North America may lack the south's faunal diversity, but it offers the comfort, security and sophistication that some travellers prefer, and is not short of spectacular landscapes itself! From the prairies and swamps of Florida to the frozen realm of the Polar Bear, we enjoy some of the finest wildlife spectacles on Earth. In Canada, we visit the west to watch Grizzly Bears fishing for salmon and pods of Orcas as they ply the calm waters off Vancouver Island; we journey to the icy Arctic tundra around Churchill to witness the annual congregation of Polar Bears, and tour the east to enjoy the autumnal migration of millions of warblers and waterbirds, some of the world's best whale-watching and the breathtaking colours of the Canadian 'fall'. In the United States, Central America and the Caribbean, our Alaskan and winter Wyoming holidays offer two of the world's finest wilderness experiences, whilst our tours to Florida, Dominica, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Costa Rica and Belize offer winter and spring sunshine and an exotic cocktail of colourful birds, butterflies and whales - perhaps the perfect place to start if you are not yet hooked on this supremely varied 'double continent'!
Hot tour destinations
Canada: The West
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A 14-day wildlife and whale-watching holiday, including a unique opportunity to view Grizzly Bears catching salmon.
Ecuador - The Andes & Amazon
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A 15-day tour in search of the birds of the threatened cloudforests, the high paramo and the Amazon Basin.
The Falkland Islands
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An 18-day holiday enjoying the birds and marine mammals of the Falkland Islands.
