Naturetrek Traveller Reviews

Naturetrek allowed me to join in with an existing tour, but to have a rental car and 'do my own thing' as much as I wished. I visited some of the successful sites for much longer than normal and missed out some of the sites completely. My focus was on invertebrates rather than orchids.

Naturetrek provides a huge range of holidays for nature lovers. Theirs is a successful formula using expert tour guides.

The holiday ran for 8 days - split between 4 days in Coto Donana and 4 in Extremadura primarily focusing on bird watching but giving full attention to species of butterflies & other insects, mammals and regional flora. This served to maintain a constant flow of interest and enthusiasm and ensured the days passed quickly - too quickly. the tour was expertly guided by 2 very experienced tour leaders one of whom was a native Spanish speaker and there was often some time also to make contact with local people or other touring wildlife enthusiasts. We were fortunate to have near ideal weather conditions with limited rrain and a good mix of sun and cloud so all in all a superb allround travel and wildlife experience.

The tour was generally very well planned and delivered with a good allocation of time and pacing for each visited site. The only slight setback was the time delay it took to pick up the mini-buses at Seville airport which was not Naturetrek's fault but the responsibility of the car hire company. Otherwise everything went smoothly and to time. The chosen guides were excellent knowing both sites and species extremely well and we located all that we wanted to see with a minimum of effort on nearly all occasions.

We were part of a group of eleven holidaymakers who spent a week in Italy where we saw a good range of places and habitats and plenty of flowers birds and other wildlife. We stayed in a very comfortable 4 star hotel which was a good base for the area. We did some interesting local walks near Sorrento and had some longer excursions to Capri, Vesuvius and Pompeii.

Naturetrek provided an excellent service all round. Our two leaders were very hard working on behalf of the group. They not only provided expertise in identifying all the wildlife we saw but also drove the two minibuses and organised daily lunches. They worked tirelessly on our behalf and were much appreciated by the group.

The Coto Doñana is a large nature reserve in southern Spain, normally closed to visitors, so my wife and I were excited to participate in this tour, which included a day in the reserve itself, as well as four days birdwatching in the vicinity. We didn't manage to glimpse the elusive Iberian lynx but saw many rare bird species. The hotel was in the gateway town to the reserve, El Rocío, a strange place with wide, sandy streets, inhabited by only 900 people, but host to pilgrimages of over a million visitors a year to the shrine of "Our Lady of the Dew". We moved on to Seville, where Naturetrek had booked us an extra five days during the annual feria, featuring horseriding, dancing, beautiful women in traditional costume and bullfighting. We were also able to organise for ourselves a day trip to Riotinto, the site of abandoned mines and a blood-red river. A memorable experience.

Naturetrek has an excellent reputation for wildlife holidays around the world, and this is our second holiday with them - we are pretty satisfied overall.

Excellent guides; went to many different habitats so saw lots of birds; great value for money as this could not have been achieved by an individual planning it. The hotels were very good and food throughout including picnics was delicious. This was an energetic trip but accomplished a great deal - the short break to Morocco I particularly enjoyed as it gave a brief view of the people and places there as well as birds.

I have gone with Naturetrek several times and I have always found the trips to be successful and satisfying.

Spring in southern Portugal, encompassing birds, flowers, wildlife of all sorts, in the company of knowledgeable guides and pleasant companions.

All arrangements were made as expected, resulting in a stress-free holiday for us.

Group of 14, in 2 jeeps. 2 guides who ensured we saw as many animals as possible with optimum photo opportunities. 6 "lads" at camp who organised the setting up of tents, supplied us with hot water for bucket showers, G & T's around the camp fire every evening, and cooked superb food over an open fire, including baking all our bread. They all worked extremely hard to give us the best holiday possible, and they succeeded. They were polite, caring and great fun. They escorted a lion from the camp when it got a bit close for comfort,and towed us out of a river when one jeep got in a bit deep. They even found us some wild dogs that most of us were desperate to see.

We have travelled with Naturetrek four times and plan to use them again this year. Their web site and brochure are clear and concise. The pre departure info and "blogs" of previous tour reports is both informative and very interesting, along with a list of birds and animals likely to be seen. Whenever we contact the office, we get a friendly, helpful person who will go out of their way to answer questions. Their attention to detail whether to do with flights, luggage, packing etc. leaves nothing to chance and couldn't be clearer. I would not hesitate to recommend this company and their holidays to anyone.

The main part of the holiday was a week at the Pico Bonito Lodge in Northern Honduras and I did an extension to Tegucigalpa and around Panacam. Accommodation was excellent as was the food, especially at Pico Bonito. The trip was well organised with attentive and knowledgeable guides. In spite of the fact that lots of people have guns and we were provided with an armed escort in some places I never once felt in danger. Everything seemed very relaxed. Honduras is a beautiful place with large areas of wild landscapes and all the people we met proved warm and friendly.

Naturetrek provides the widest range of nature holidays in the UK including very good value "budget" destinations. My flights via Houston were comfortable and all the arrangements went smoothly. In holidays of this sort you can always expect late changes to the schedule but there is always a good reason for them and very little, if anything, is missed. The company is very responsive to queries beforehand and responds positively to suggestions for change to details either before or afterwards. A company you can trust to do what it says it will and to look after your security and well being no matter where you are in the world.

Good food, good company and an exceptional display of finches!

Helpful office staff, straightforward booking procedure, comprehensive pre-tour information and knowledgeable & accommodating guides.

I chose this holiday because I wanted to spend the maximum amount of time with the wildlife of the delta. I didn't want to have the occasional afternoon of leisure to sit by a pool. I also wanted the experience of camping in the wilderness, surrounded by the sights, sounds and smells of the Okavango Delta. I had high expectations, and this holiday exceeded them by a significant margin. In no way was this a relaxing holiday. We rose before sunrise and spent the bulk of the day and into the evening on game drives. It was a magical trip with so many highlights. Wildlife is unpredictable, but our guides just seemed to have the knack of being in the right place at the right time to see the most spectacular things. E.g. To be parked in a small clearing surrounded by a herd of elephants of all ages just as the sun was setting, bathing the animals in a rich rosey pink glow was a special moment. It is not every day you find yourself surrounded by pink elephants!! There were 14 guests on the trip some of which had been on the same holiday in previous years. The vehicles we used were excellent and everyone was able to have great views of the animals. We were also fed like kings. It was a joyous experience and worth every penny and every early rise.

Naturetrek were excellent to work with. Helpful, efficient and informative. The staff who looked after us on the trip were marvelous. The skill of our guides was outstanding, and their knowledge encyclopaedic. Everyone went the extra mile to ensure our holiday experience was as good as it could possibly be.