Where for a wildlife holiday on a budget?

PatrickO

PatrickO

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Patrick
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Mrs PatrickO and I can rarely agree on holidays, but we both agreed the other day that a holiday based around seeing wildlife would be good. I'd love an African photo safari, but can't afford thousands of pounds. The Mrs is not into camping (unless of the very civilized sort). We both love wildlife, but are not experts so would prefer to have a guide.

Any thoughts for wildlife holidays on a budget?
 
A couple of years ago we were in the same boat. We wanted to see more of the uk, but were hampered by prohibitive costs for cottages as we wanted to go away 4 or 5 times year. Coupled with having a couple of dogs in tow, it really was a chore. The answer, we bought a second hand touring caravan. We now have two main holidays a year, and countless long weekends away. In fact we are away on Friday until Tuesday next.
Yes you have the initial outlay for the caravan, but after that, go where you like, when you like, on a budget. We've just had seven nights on a Caravan Club site in North Yorkshire for £95.
 
MWHCVT said:
It would help if you gave that budget, as one persons not a massive budget, is another persons quite large budget :eek:
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Good point. I don't really have a specific budget. But we would rarely spend more than £500 pp all in for a holiday and generally try for a bit less. But, you never know if something wonderful came up for mor then we could stretch the budget.

Yv said:
Patrick, I wonder if this might be better in Talk Nature? Just a thought, shout if you want it moving ;)
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Thanks Yv. Please do.

andrewc said:
UK:
- Puffins?
- Red Squirrels
- Deer in the wild
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Hi Andrew - have you done those sort of trips yourself? How did you organise it?
 
Hi Patrick,

Not done anything like that myself, but Puffins would be a trip to Skomer off the coast of Wales
Squirrels tend to either be trapped in small enclaves in the south, or require a trip to Scotland.
Deer - well they're all over the UK - but you could do little and large with a trip to Scotland.

I'd like to go to Skomer myself one day.
 
Skomer: there's a few odd available dates you can mop up in the coming weeks, but for 2015 you'll need to phone up late Oct when booking starts (best dates go quick, trust members get two weeks early booking period). £30-60 ppn depending on period and room. Very end of April to end July is the Puffin period.
http://www.welshwildlife.org/overnight-accommodation-on-skomer/

The Norfolk-Suffolk coast is stuffed full of nature reserves (plus a few notables in neighbouring Cambs). Use one or more cheap B&Bs and visit a different one each day.

Get up to Skye, and do some of the day tours to see the two types of eagles, otters, whales, dolphins, etc.
 
Naturetrek do uk organised trips may be worth having a look at their catalog
We have been abroad with them they were excellent
they also do stuff in Europe too like bear watching in finland etc
 
Mull - we spent a fortnight there in a static caravan last summer. Our cheapest ever holiday but also our most enjoyable. Wonderful wildlife everywhere - the caravan was like a hide, fantastic landscape, a two minute walk to a beautiful beach and, if you need it, dog friendly too.
 
Unfortunately when it comes to organised wildlife trips with a guide, £500 doesn't seem to go very far; it'll get you a long weekend. I paid nearly that to do a three day seal photography workshop (with Mark Sissons at Natures Images), and NatureTrek (mentioned by LCPete) will charge £450 that for three night birding trip in Yorkshire. If you want a long holiday, it's got to be self-organised, either in the UK or somewhere served by a budget airline and with cheap accomodation.
 
The W said:
Skomer: there's a few odd available dates you can mop up in the coming weeks, but for 2015 you'll need to phone up late Oct when booking starts (best dates go quick, trust members get two weeks early booking period). £30-60 ppn depending on period and room. Very end of April to end July is the Puffin period.
http://www.welshwildlife.org/overnight-accommodation-on-skomer/

The Norfolk-Suffolk coast is stuffed full of nature reserves (plus a few notables in neighbouring Cambs). Use one or more cheap B&Bs and visit a different one each day.

Get up to Skye, and do some of the day tours to see the two types of eagles, otters, whales, dolphins, etc.
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Just been looking at the Skomer website. Looks life a great place. Not too expensive either.
 
The W said:
Unfortunately when it comes to organised wildlife trips with a guide, £500 doesn't seem to go very far; it'll get you a long weekend. I paid nearly that to do a three day seal photography workshop (with Mark Sissons at Natures Images), and NatureTrek (mentioned by LCPete) will charge £450 that for three night birding trip in Yorkshire. If you want a long holiday, it's got to be self-organised, either in the UK or somewhere served by a budget airline and with cheap accomodation.
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I think you are right. Anything guided seems to be expensive. I can understand why.
 
PatrickO said:
Would be intererested to hear what you did? Might consider doing it with my son or a mate rather than missus.
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It was a long trip about 6mths,i flew into Kenya the zig zag around and flew out of South African,the risks can be a bit high during that time a lot happen,wont go into many details and put you of.

Right cheap safari i did 5 in that time, 3 were very hard and high risk,and you may need time to hang around a bump into the right people,so your best bets are Kenya,right just get an cheap fly to Nairobi, once their find any cheap hotel or hostel,the hostel tend to be more secure they are mainly used by aid workers,then just ask around some of the company's doing cheap safari their are a few around, everything will be done overland so expect some long road trips and some very poor accommodation,but you will get to see some good stuff.

The other is in Tanzania fly into Dodom,again as above,i did a couple of smaller ones in South Africa but they tend to be more money,so i could do any big ones.

Anything else just ask,and i will see if i can help :)
 
PatrickO said:
Just been looking at the Skomer website. Looks life a great place. Not too expensive either.
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I'm off to skomer in a few weeks, 2 day stay on the island with 2 nights planned for the Forest of Dean on the journey over. Accommodation wise it's £90pp for 2 nights on skomer and about £30 per room per night (double/twin) at travel lodge and premier inn about 30 mins from the Forest of Dean.

With skomer you have to pay for the boat across and overnight car parking at a local farm/camp site nearby too, it's still relatively cheap.

I do a few photography trips a year with friends that we organise ourselves. we mainly stay at travelogues/premier inns as they cheap if you book early and get the saver rate. You need to drive 20-30 mins to get to the wildlife locations but considering we are only staying from about 10pm to 5am why pay more. I can recommend the Peak District, plenty of travel lodges in surrounding towns, and lots of wildlife and landscapes to see.
 
I just had a day trip to skomer. Fantastic day out. Joined the trust and now looking at an overnight stay. You'll have to let me know how it goes Rob
 
I can vouch for Skomer, and also the Farne Islands. Northumberland has a great deal of wildlife on offer, some fantastic scenery (Cragside, Lindisfarne, all those castles, Hadrians Wall etc). You also have Red Squirrels in the forest park.

You get closer to the birds on Inner Farne than you do on Skomer, so as a birding experience, I prefer it. However, the wildlife on Skomer is a bit more diverse and of course, you can stay on the island. I've done both and would do them both again.
 
How close do you get on Farne? You have to be careful not to trip over them on Skomer! I am not sure how you can get closer.

To add to my comments above on Mull, it is very easy (and quite cheap) to book a wildlife tour when you are there, and you will be shown otters, both sorts of eagle, deer, hen harriers... Then there is the sea eagle nest site to visit, Staffa and Lunga for the puffins and other seabirds, Mull Charters to photograph sea eagles fishing, seals etc, plus once you have done your day's wildlife tour you know all the right spots to go on your own. It really is a superb place for wildlife.
 
MadWoman said:
How close do you get on Farne? You have to be careful not to trip over them on Skomer! I am not sure how you can get closer.
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Very close, like 35mm close. And you get that close to Puffin, Razorbill, Guillemot, Shag, Terns and others. However, when we went to Skomer we did see a wider variation of birds, as well as butterflies & moths.

Must get my backside up to Mull, been talking about it for ages.
 
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