Wildlife Trails Traveller Reviews

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.

The animal I most wanted to see were dholes. This was my second trip to India and they alluded me. I know there are no guarantees with nature, but within 2 hours on our first game drive I saw a pack of three right behind the jeep. All in all I saw three packs on five occasions and saw them with puppies and saw them mating. The forest was beautiful with colorful birds especially the Paradise Flycatcher. I saw tigers, sloth bears, several species of deer, tree shrew and a monitor lizard. This trip was more than I could of hoped for. The lodge was very nice and the food was great. I especially enjoyed the movie on Indian wildlife provided nightly. I give it an A++

He was so helpful. He met me at the airport when I arrived and he helped me on my flight home through the airport. It can be scary for a foreigner in a strange place. He put me at ease. All the necessary documents were provided for me when I arrived at my hotel in Delhi and he explained what each document was for. The book on tigers was a nice touch.

All the hotels were very high quality and the staff could not be faulted and were very attentive. The food menus did not totally cater to the European Pallett. The tiger safari was excellent and we would highly recommend this aspect of the holiday. Khem Villas was an amazing place to stay to compliment the safaris. The guides were enthusiastic and eager to show us all the local sights in the areas we visited. The Taj Mahal was amazing. The only down side was the excessive heat which was not in anyone's control.

Excellent. We received a phone call every day to ask us if there were any problems and to make sure all plans were kept on schedule. Our only problem related to the internal flights where the baggage allowance was not enough and this was not brought to our attention when the flights were booked. It therefore cost extra time and money waiting to arrange payment for the extra baggage. This could have been paid for in advance.