Naturetrek Traveller Reviews

This trip is one of the best trips I have done, it met all my expectations and more. We saw over 250 bird species and very good views of most. We visited 2 main Mayan sites with very knowledgeable guides. Each site was impressive. The guide, who took us around the Lamanai site had grown up nearby as a boy and he was able to bring it to life with a series of anecdotes. Our main trip guide Peter was charming, caring with a good sense of humour. He also had excellent birding skills. But the best way to convey how much we enjoyed the trip is to describe some events that made the trip particularly special. The first was night spotting on the river from Lamanai Outpost, which produced special birds such as Potoo and Nightjar, whilst being able to see other bird behaviour at night, not often seen. The second was the setting up of a moth trap at Pooks Hill, which drew in many insects, not least some very interesting looking moths. The owner also gave us a history of the Mayan site beneath Pooks Hill, again something we hadn't expected. There are so many experiences I could list, but the last is the opportunity to snorkel along the Belize barrier reef, which provided views of sting ray and nurse shark as well as hundreds of small colourful fish and beautiful corals. Certainly a very enjoyable holiday!

Naturetrek provide some stunning wildlife tours and this one in Belize is no exception. They are helpful and always available to help and answer questions during booking, before departure and during the holiday. They chose an excellent ground agent and guide for this holiday. We experienced a mix up with bookings when staying overnight in Miami before flying to Belize the following day, but Naturetrek resolved the problem quickly and without fuss. I would definitely travel with them again.

A real eye opener to the flora, fauna and geology of the Canary Islands

Excellent from start to finish. Previous tour reports are really helpful and guides have good knowledge of what is seen and where to see it.

With great history and culture,Sri Lanka is a jewel ,it has everything : animals ,birds,lots of elephants,magnificent ancient architecture,and wonderful happy people

A knowledgeable,enthusiastic young man who did everything to make our trip successful and a pleasure to be with

Great area to visit, and excellent hotel, birds, other wildlife and tour leaders

Everthing was well organised and ran smoothly

The boat was great, the family who owned it were on board and the combined knowledge, experience and enthusiasm of the family, crew and leaders; Cathy and Chas was instrumental in making the trip so enjoyable; Because of this we witnessed so many beautiful marine creatures and had the unique opportunity to explore quiet reefs and dessert islands. I swam with Whale Sharks and Manta Rays, hung out with Turtles, Ocotpus and Moray Eels., Butterfly, Unicorn, Damsel fish. I taught myself to duck dive, I swam in the path of a shoal of Stingrays swimming underneath and all around me. A holiday of a lifetime.

The Tour operator was NatureTrek who I had always wanted to travel with and I wasn't disappointed. From the staff in the office, booking and answering questions they were always there and helpful. Everything was run smoothly and superb organisation down to small details. The tour leaders Cathy and Chas Anderson were amazing. Cathy fizzled and bubbled excitement and enthusiasm with her sightings of Whales and Dolphins and always made sure eveyone knew about the sightings by ringing the bell and going round to every cabin to let people know if she didn't see them on deck, so we didn't miss a thing. Chas Anderson's in depth knowledge and experience of where to find marine life, his adaptability and spontaneity ensured we experienced a wealth of wildlife.

Naturetrek arranged for us to take an earlier transatlantic flight so that we could spend a day in Miami rather than just an overnight stop-over en route to Belize. On arrival in Belize, we were met by our local guide who stayed with us for the entire trip, and did all the driving. We were part of a group of eleven. We stayed at several different hotels / lodges, all of which were of excellent quality - and the food was excellent too. The itinerary was very full, with bird/animal/butterfly-watching, exploring Mayan ruins and snorkelling at the local reefs. It was a busy but very enjoyable holiday.

Naturetrek provided an excellent itinerary, and their local guide was superb. All the arrangements went like clockwork.

Returning to Ghana where I lived as a child and using extra days before the bird watching tour to visit places that I remembered from my childhood. Naturetrek put all this together for us and as well as providing an outstanding tour with ground agents Ashanti Tours made sure all my extra requirements were fully provided with superb guides and drivers. As a result this tour was definitely the most memorable experience. Thank you Naturetrek

Ashanti Tours were the ground agents that Naturetrek work with in Ghana. They were outstanding and Naturetrek ensured that all was in place for not only a superb birdwatching tour but all our extras went smoothly. Communication between Naturetrek, Ashanti Tours and us was excellent. Thank you to all involved.

12 days bird watching in Japan, great itinerary, good hotels , an insight into the culture of Japan. The tour leader Barrie was excellent, he always had time for all members of the group , combined with a knowledge of bird life in Japan and a unique ability to spot the birds made this a great trip.

Nature Trek , well organised tour , very responsive staff.

We went blue whale watching, leopard spotting and bird watching in Sri Lanka. The trip was so well organised. We stayed in lovely hotels and were well looked after by our experienced friendly and caring guides. We saw whales, dolphins leopard and 130 species of fantastic birds. Altogether a trip to remember..

We were given information about the holiday before we set off ,where to meet our guides, the clothing we would need and information about Sri Lanka when we would arrive. The documents were sent to us in plenty of time and we felt well looked after before and during our trip.

Although the main objective was to see tigers - which we did, 5 different tigers in total, we were equally fascinated by the other wildlife, especially the birds of which we saw 120+ different species. We would not have seen or identified many of these without the excellent guide, Anand, and the National Park spotters, who not only saw wildlife which were brilliantly camouflaged, but were able to hear and interpret alarm calls from potential prey which identified that predators - tigers and/or leopard were about. The accommodation in the lodges was excellent, where we well fed and watered, albeit the picnic breakfast sandwiches lacked imagination. The hot water bottles and blankets were much appreciated on the very chilly early morning starts. As we have found on previous holidays in India, travelling from place to place was also fascinating - watching locals going about their daily routines, be that tending animals, making chappatis over open fires, fetching water from the village pump or well, or carrying huge loads of fodder or wood on their heads - in one instance this was a lady balancing a sewing machine on her head. We then chose to go to Amritsar rather than the offered Ranthambore extension. Naturetrek certainly delivered here. The Golden Temple was an amazing spectacle which we were lucky to see both in daylight and at night for the 'putting to bed' ceremony when the Holy book is literally ceremonially taken from the Temple to its bed in a separate building. Equally interesting was visiting the food halls where food is prepared and cooked by volunteers 24x7 for 1000's of people who form a never ending orderly queue to be fed sitting cross-legged in neat rows. The border ceremony was an entertaining, unusual and at times almost comedic spectacle, but one which should not be missed. Discussion with our local guides as to what we could do in our free time, led to two very unexpected highlights. Randeep suggested an evening meal with a local family - this turned out to be with his family where we had a wonderful evening watching the food being prepared, eating it, and drinking 'English wine' i.e. whisky. Guri, our guide for the temple and border ceremony, suggested we might like to visit a local village before our evening flight back to Delhi. This was amazing, visiting their school, a village house where we were made very welcome, flying kites from their flat roof, Roger had a turban fitted, we walked round the village seeing their 'shops' and the village gym before boarding a tractor and trailer to view the wheat and pea crops in the fields. It was all topped off with a very nice meal with the family before leaving for the airport.

We have now travelled with Naturetrek twice and have always found them to be helpful and very professional. Having been to India several times, we had already visited Ranthambore and so although wanting to do the Tiger Marathon, we didn't want to repeat Ranthambore but had always wanted to visit Amritsar. A quick email to Rajan Jolly asking if this would be possible received a very quick response with costings of what became our extension to Amritsar. Nothing is too much trouble.