Wildlife Trails Traveller Reviews

I specifically wanted to see Polar bears with plenty of photo opportunities. I had a 4 night stay in the Frontiers North Tundra Buggy Lodge, with 5 eight hour Tundra Buggy trips. I also stayed in Winnipeg for a couple of nights before and after. The Tundra Buggy people were first class, with driver and guide being very knowledgeable, food was good, both in the Lodge and on board the Buggy. I was a little apprehensive about the long bunk room with 20 people but the inner and outer curtains provided good privacy and also sound deadening. Highly recommended. You have much more time in the area where the bears congregate that if you have a day trip for Churchill (which takes 2 hours each way to get to the area). In Winnipeg I stayed at Inn at the Forks - a good hotel in a lovely area. Also highly recommended.

Everything was arrange with detailed consultation and consideration of what I wanted. I had used Wildlife Trails twice before and have always found them excellent.

Three of us had a three week holiday with included visits to Salvador, Rio, Iguasu Falls and Ilhe Grande, fitted in around 13 days in the Pantanal and Cristalino Lodge. We flew, via Lisbon, into Salvador for a three night stay after the trans-Atlantic flight. Three internal flights took us to Alta Floresta for Cristalino River Lodge. The "wildlife" section of the holiday really exceeded our expectations, the Cristalino river was a great place, not only for mammals, but especially for birds. From the lodge you had a selection of river trips, treks and a trip up a 50 metre tower above the forest cover. A flight back to Cuieba allowed us to be collected by our guide who took us all around our Pantanal visit. The Pantanal was shown to us from three different lodges, all of which have different animals and birds, the highlight of these visits were several sightings of Jaguar, plus giant and neotropical otters. We then had flights to get to Iguasu Falls for a two day visit, prior to flying to Rio and Ilha Grande for a few days before flying back to UK, once again via Lisbon.

This is the fourth time we have used Wildlife Trails to arrange a holiday for us. Once again Allan has come up trumps - the preliminary discussions started almost twelve months in advance to get the best dates to visit the Pantanal for Jaguar sightings, once these had been agreed, provisional bookings were made for the lodges of choice, plus our excellent guide, Tito, was engaged. We then discussed the add-on visits we were considering, which Allan then arranged, including adjusting hotels to suit. Internal and international flights were arranged for our convenience - flying directly into Salvador from Manchester!! Everything was always available to check, and there was always someone to discuss or answer any questions or queries we had. On the actual holiday there were no problems in transfers, or any of the minor nitty gritty parts of the holiday.

A family (of four) self-drive holiday to Vancouver and Vancouver Island in late August and early September 2015. The holiday lived up to all our expectations. All the arrangements worked like clockwork. The accommodation was well chosen: just the right standard, in convenient and spectacular waterfront locations. The itinerary could not have been better: we enjoyed each location even more than the previous one with the right length of time at each place. The wildlife and scenery were spectacular: we saw 19 species of mammal, including 3 species of whale, wolf, both grizzly and black bears and c.110 bird species.

We travelled with Wildlife Trails, a small, family-owned company specialising in tailor-made wildlife holidays. This was our third holiday with Wildlife Trails in four years. The company offers imaginative and exciting itineraries that are excellent value for money. The personal service and ability to understand and fulfil the requirements of their clients sets them apart from other companies we have travelled with.

We have just spent 2 weeks in the South & North Pantanals in Brazil, experiencing all the wonderful wildlife this area has to offer. Our first stop in the south was Pousada Aguape, 3 hours drive from Campo Grande. Here it was possible to see wildlife on foot, on horseback, by jeep & by boat. The lodge was superb with lovely food & accommodation. Our experience was much enhanced by the services of our excellent guide, Rodrigo. His knowledge & humour were exceptional. In the north we arrived in Cuiaba to visit Pouso Alegre, Porto Jofre & Pousada Araras. Our time in Porto Jofre on the Cuiaba River gave us the unbelievable privilege of many jaguar sightings & time with river otters. Our lovely guide, Bianca, helped us to enjoy & identify numerous, beautiful birds plus the many different mammals & reptiles that all add up to a feast for our eyes & senses. All our accommodation was excellent with good food and comfortable rooms. Our itinerary provided us with such a wide variety of ways to enjoy the world about us in the company of very knowledgeable guides who were a joy to spend time with.

Wildlife Trails has become our Tour Operator of choice for the past 13 years. Small is good for us as it has allowed us to develop a relationship with Allan & Kirsty Blanchard that enables us to choose destinations & experiences with confidence. Their personal experiences, excellent research & attention to detail ensures that each trip is carefully & jointly planned between us. The resulting holidays are always good & sometimes spectacular. They are always open to suggestions & ideas and willing to advise when we are uncertain or wanting to try something new to us all. Their standards are high so we can be assured that, wherever we go, we will get the best chance of a memorable & well planned holiday, tailor made for us.

I had a wonderful trip to the Bella Coola Valley in BC. Location and accommodation were excellent, the food a real treat especially in the Tweedmuire Park Lodge. Wildlife viewing on the river and the Nature Walks with experience guides made it a very special experience. The Guides and other staff were a pleasure to be with.. The optional Helicopter Hike topped it all.

Excellent and a very personal service. I felt being looked after and supported. No hesitation in recommending Wildlife Trails.

Stunning scenery and wildlife. Great crew with extensive experience of the flora and fauna . Nice cabin on a comfortable boat. Excellent trips out on the zodiacs . Saw polar bears, whales, seals, walrus, arctic foxes, various birds,. Food good and the while dining experience friendly and informal. Loved every minute of it .

Friendly , helpful. Excellent standard .

Had a great time on our Wildlife Trails-organised trip to Alaska and W Canada. It was our first trip to that part of the world and our itinerary was great. Saw whales breaching and bears fishing as well as fabulous scenery and some great little towns.

Wildlife Trails put together a customised itinerary to meet our objectives. It was excellent. They deliver a very helpful and personalised service, which we really appreciated.

We had the most AMAZING 15 days in Uganda with a few days in Rwanda on safari, including the usual jeep rides but also hiking, biking, horse back riding, boating and trekking. Uganda is the "sleeper" country for an African visit- not only is it incredibly lush and beautiful with welcoming smiles from those along our path but is free of tourist congestion. Such a pleasure to be on the plains with the animals, completely absorbed by the natural beauty without the distractions of other safari vehicles. The collection of wildlife is diverse, fascinating and beautiful. The gorilla trekking was the highlight personally but not far behind was the rest of Uganda!

Allan arranges a truly memorable trip for us. He was a pleasure to deal with and was quite patient with the many questions and changes to our personalized itinerary. The guide/naturalist he selected, Martin Okot, was PERFECT for us; not only thorough in knowledge over a wide range of subjects from plants, birds, butterflies to primates but also on history and politics. This made for wonderful conversation throughout our time together. Martin managed a few typical travel hiccups, like a delayed bag, slight modifications in the itinerary, flat tires with furor and speed. I really felt that he was fighting for us, providing the most favorable time in Uganda- a great ambassador for Uganda.

A truly fabulous trip, enhanced by our lovely driver/guide Hassan and many friendly people on our travels whether at our accommodation or any of our daily activities.

Happy with everything booked, lovely accommodation and all activities organised.

My husband & I spent 15 days in Bandhavgarh at the hottest and driest time of year. Daily temperatures frequently reached 47 Celsius but the heat is much drier than in the UK so can be tolerated if you are sensible. If you want to see wildlife and especially tigers the hottest driest part of the year is the best in our opinion. We've been travelling to India in late May/early June for 9 years now and we've always seen tigers. This year sloth bear, leopard, civet cat, chinkara, nilgai, changeable hawk eagle, barking deer and vulture sightings were also excellent. We visited 4 zones of Bandhavgarh National Park including the newly opened Kithauli-Panpatha buffer zone which is stunningly beautiful and for the first time in 2015 will remain open during the monsoon rainy season. The other zones visited were Tala (good sightings of tigers, leopards, sloth bears, varied birdlife including the rare emerald doves, Indian Pitta, Paradise Flycatcher, serpent eagles, long necked vultures, Egyptian vultures and King vultures; we also saw civet cat, ruddy mongoose, sambar deer, barking deer, chital and plenty of wild boar); Magdhi (some good tiger sightings, chital, sambar deer, wild boar,and many birds); Kithauli (no tigers seen on this visit but birdlife was good and is one of the better zones in which to see the shy Nilgai (also known as the blue bull) and the black backed jackal).

Wildlife trails is especially good at delivering the personal touches which make the traveller feel like a welcome guest and not just another name in a large group. I have a food allergy, it was flagged with wildlife trails when we booked & communicated right down the line to every person involved in meal preparation throughout our stay (even the packed meals for the travel days were spot on). They also arranged for a mobile phone/Indian SIM card for us to use during our trip which is a big help especially when you have two lengthy overnight trips. The safaris were booked exactly as we had discussed and when you speak to Allan or Kirsty about your trip during the planning stage it feels like you are dealing with friends. We have travelled with Wildlife Trails many times over the last nine years to a variety of destinations including India for Tigers, Brazil for Jaguars and Canada for Polar Bears, whenever we plan to watch wildlife they will always be our first port of call.