Overview
South India is well known to birdwatchers thanks to its abundance of endemic species. Blue-winged Parakeets, Crimson-backed and Loten’s Sunbirds, Little Spiderhunter, Palani Laughing thrush, White-bellied Treepie, and Malabar Trogon are just some of the beautiful species you can hope to see in the Western Ghats, a chain of low-lying monsoon-enriched mountains along India’s western edge. Our amazing bird guide will help you see these endemic beauties, as well as other birds like the Great Hornbill, Black Baza, and more, not to mention the abundant sightings of the gentle giants of India: the Asiatic Elephant. This birdwatching tour is specially designed to make the most of the time, visiting the pristine wildlife destinations such as Mudumalai National Park, Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary, and the picturesque hill station of Ooty, in search of the rare and beautiful creatures that call this region home.
Meals: On Own
Accommodation: Hotel Green
Arrive Bangalore and drive to Mysore (144 km / 3.5 hr.). Check in into hotel. Day at leisure.
Overnight stay
This tour can be customized for you.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Wild Woods Haven
Today proceed to Mudumalai (87 km / 2 hr.). On the way you can stop for bird watching. Species may include Small Pratincole, Red Avadavat and Black Ibis, plus several others. Arid areas can be briefly checked for Ashy-crowned Sparrow Lark. Stopping along the road at Mudumalai is not permitted. However, your guide knows where you can pull off the road to explore some excellent dry scrub habitat that is sure to add some new species to the list.
Overnight stay
This tour can be customized for you.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Wild Woods Haven
Get up in the early morning and ready for morning safari and birding tour. Back from safari after breakfast day at leisure. In afternoon visit Theppakadu Elephant Camp. Evening at leisure.
Overnight stay
Species:
Mammals:
Elephants, Gaur, Banner, Macaque, Common Langur, Tigers, Leopards, Chital, Panther, Sloth Bear, Python, Barking Deer, Four Horned Antelope, Hyena, Wild Dog & Wild Boar
Birds:
White-bellied Woodpecker, Lesser Yellow Nape, Golden Woodpecker, Streak-throated Woodpecker, Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, Emerald Dove, Green Imperial Pigeon, Grey-fronted Green Pigeon, Grey-bellied Cuckoo, Indian Cuckoo, Alpine Swift, Black-hooded Oriole, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Black-headed Cuckooshrike, Grey-headed Bulbul, Forest Wagtail, Crimson-backed Sunbird and Loten's Sunbird
This tour can be customized for you.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Kluney Manor
Proceed to Ooty (46 km / 1.5 hr.). Enjoy the beautiful attractions of Doddabetta Peak, Popular Botanical Garden, Rose Garden, and Ooty Lake/Boat House - here you can enjoy boating, horse riding activities, etc.
Return to the hotel and overnight stay.
Note: These are the suggested sightseeing in a day, depending on your fitness and ability.
This tour can be customized for you.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Banyan Tree
Proceed to Top Slip (90 km / 3 hr.). Reach Top Slip.
Overnight stay.
This tour can be customized for you.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Kluney Manor
Full day birding experience in Top Slip.
Overnight stay.
This tour can be customized for you.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Misty Mountain
Our drive to Munnar will take us through Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary. This is one of the few dry scrub habitats in Kerala and gives us another chance of Yellow-throated Bulbul if we were unable to connect with that on our first day. One trail here follows the river where we have an outside chance of seeing the impressive Spot-bellied Eagle-Owl. Other species include Malabar Whistling Thrush, Brown Fish-owl, Western Crowned Leaf-warbler, Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher and Asian Paradise Flycatcher. We also hope to see our second Giant Squirrel of the trip, the restricted range Grizzled Giant Squirrel.
Before arriving at Munnar we’ll break for a tea stop at Karadippara, which provides an excellent vantage point across the extensive wooded valley. Species here might include Yellow-browed Bulbul, Crimson-backed Sunbird, Grey-fronted Green Pigeon (formerly Pompadour Green Pigeon), Malabar (Crimson-fronted) Barbet, Little Spiderhunter, Brown-cheeked Fulvetta and Rusty-tailed Flycatcher.
Overnight stay
This tour can be customized for you.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Misty Mountain
Around Munnar, the pockets of the shola forest (the high-altitude montane forests amongst the grassland) and mountain grassland ecosystem are home to several endemic birds and various mammals including Nilgiri Tahr. The altitude above 1600 m means an agreeable climate throughout the year, although in December and January the temperatures can fall to single digits: a slight reminder of the European winter you may have escaped to come here! Rainfall of over 300 cm per year is recorded mainly during June to September, but in these cloud forests it can rain at any time of year. Here we will look for several more South Indian and Nilgiri Hills endemics.
Key species around Munnar include Palani (formerly Grey-breasted) Laughingthrush, White-bellied Sholakili (formerly a Blue Robin, and before that a Shortwing!), Nilgiri Pipit and, especially, Broad-tailed Grassbird: a fairly easy species to find in the monsoons but can be tough at this time of year.
Key species: Nilgiri Tahr, Malabar Barbet, Palani Laughingthrush, Nilgiri Pipit, White-bellied Blue Robin, Crimson-backed Sunbird, Nilgiri Wood Pigeon.
Overnight stay
This tour can be customized for you.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Soma Birds' Lagoon
Today proceed to Thattekkad (67 km / 2 hr.). Reach Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary. An evergreen lowland forest, Thattekkad is located between the branches of the Periyar River, making for a perfect birding mix of forest and wetland habitats. Areas both inside and outside of the actual sanctuary are well-known as one of the best birding sites in the Western Ghats. Our afternoon birding might find Fork-tailed Drongo Cuckoo, Black-throated Munia, Red Spurfowl and, one of the specialities here, Black Baza. Late afternoon activity, particularly around a small drinking puddle, sometimes produces close views of some good passerine species, including Indian Blue Robin, Blue-throated and Tickell’s Blue Flycatchers, Puff-throated Babbler and Orange-headed Thrush. Brown-breasted Flycatcher, Malabar Trogon, Malabar Parakeet all occur locally.
Overnight stay
This tour can be customized for you.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Soma Birds' Lagoon
Three full days of quality birding in Thattekkad will bring us plenty of species, and we’ll aim to find those Western Ghats birds that we may have missed up until now. A spot of night-birding could produce Great Eared as well as Jerdon’s Nightjar, and Spot-bellied Eagle Owl and Sri Lanka Bay Owl. These owls are difficult though: we will hope one of our local guides has managed to find a day roost for the latter, although even then they tend to use different sites every few days and our chances are slim!
Key species: Oriental Dollarbird, Indian Pitta, Malabar Woodshrike, Great Hornbill, Mountain Imperial Pigeon, Crested Goshawk, Blue-winged Parakeet, Jerdon’s Nightjar, White-bellied Blue Flycatcher, Blue throated Blue Flycatcher, Black-naped Oriole, Grey-headed Bulbul.
Overnight stay.
This tour can be customized for you.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: None
The final day of our tour is likely to still include some good birding before we head to Kochi for the flight home. Most international flights are in the evening so there is still time to complete any gaps in our list!
Of course, if you haven’t had your fill of India’s endemic birds then our short trip to the Andaman Islands is an ideal extension to this tour.
This tour can be customized for you.
Highlights
- Architecture
- Nature and Wildlife
- Birds and Mammals
- Tiger Sighting
- Bird Watching
- Jungle Safari
- Toy Train
- Tea Gardens
- Photography
- South Indian Food
- Quaint Accommodation
Included
- Accommodation on twin / single sharing basis Meals as per the itinerary
- Birding South India at all the places as per the itinerary Dedicated Birding guide in South India
- All park entrances All ground transport services during the trip | All taxes
Video
Location
Stories
Ladakh
North India, the land of Ladakh, looks as though it was made for birdwatching and photography.
Gir National Park Gujarat
Sometimes it is not just the species spotted but also the amazing moments. Some of our guests had the unique opportunity to witness the mating of Asiatic Lions in the Gir Forest, truly a special moment.
Delhi
Surajpur is an amazing wetland close to the nation’s capital. Apart from being one of the monsoon homes for the Bristled Grassbird, it is also home to another sought-after species: the Bengal Bush Lark.
Rajasthan
One advantage of living near the birding hotspot of Bharatpur is that you can see some amazing birds, like the graceful Sarus Crane, in your backyard during this lockdown