Just Returned From Birding In The Aussie Outback

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Tara

People often ask me why I travel so far abroad to see wild birds, especially parrots when I have so many in the wonderful country I live in – Australia. Actually this trip has been several years in the making and I had been working on itineraries but it always got pushed to one side because I had so many mileage-earning opportunities that enabled the exotic trips overseas. I would normally never be able to afford such travel if I hadn’t been able to churn a few credit cards and shift spending to maximize mileage earning. I also got involved in some insanely lucrative promos such as US Airway’s Grand Slam, Daily Getaways, various Facebook promos, survey taking and checking into hotels via Foursquare. The last few years have been a golden era for those who were savvy enough to take advantage of it! So with lots of miles on hand, we concentrated on overseas travel, even flying business class in some cases!

But the one thing I had to face is that my husband and I are not spring chickens and we are not getting any younger. Traveling in the Aussie Outback involves huge distances and is very challenging. I knew we couldn’t put it off much longer, even though we only had to burn 10,000 AA miles for each one way sector on Qantas and I booked the Virgin Australia flight from Hobart to Brisbane during a 15% off sale.

During the last month, I drove over 8000 kilometers in cars rented from Hertz, Bargain Car Hire and Thrifty! The parrots have been amazing, we saw 37 species just on this trip, though I have seen more Aussie parrot species in my life since some are also found in West Papua and some are found in my own back yard! In the chart below, the boldface represents a species I have seen in my life, the grey shaded boxes represent parrots I saw on this trip within the last month.

Locations of Australian Parrots

Even though Parrots were the primary focus of the trip, I knew that these locations would also be home to other beautiful birds such as Fairy-wrens, Bowerbirds, Robins, Honey-eaters, and more!

The good news is that Australia is logistically a very easy country to travel in. It’s safe, people speak English, credit cards are widely accepted and you can easily get your own rental car. The AUD has gone down against the USD, GBP, EUR over the last few months so it costs less than it used to if you are coming from overseas. Over the next few weeks, I will be showing you more of the birds we saw, where we stayed and how I organized the flights, accommodation and rental cars so that you too can have your own Aussie Outback adventure!

A Rocky Road To Colombo (CMB) That Ends With A Shopping Spree & Lounge

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Tara

Sadly our last day in Sri Lanka had arrived and it was time to start heading home. After a lazy morning of last chance birding from our balcony, we paid the bill and went down the road a few metres to wait for the bus to Kalawana. Since it was a Sunday, there were fewer buses and we waited almost an hour but a bus finally did show up. The trip to Kalawana was around an hour with stops and we easily found a bus for the next leg of the journey to Matugama. The road was in terrible condition with apparent rock slides and bulldozers everywhere so this relatively short leg (40km) actually took over an hour.

I love how this bin kind of looks like a bird!

In Matugama we had an easier task because there were a lot more choices to Colombo. I was actually more interested in a non-stop trip than the AC so we chose this bus hoping for a better experience.

It was pretty good and the man behind us spoke English so we chatted a while but he got out before we did. We took the road along the seaside to Colombo.

I wasn’t sure where to jump off the bus and no one else spoke English so we stayed on to the end. It was around 3pm and we hadn’t had lunch so were pretty hungry. I remembered the name of a shopping centre – the Dutch Hospital so we grabbed a rickshaw and asked to be dropped there. He actually dropped us in front of the adjacent TGI Fridays and we were both in need of a clean toilet so we went in and ended up having a late lunch there.

After stuffing ourselves, we walked next door to the Dutch Hospital (it used to be a hospital but was now a trendy shopping centre) to have a look around. There were several boutiques and a snall branch of Odel, a local department store. I ended up buying a green kaftan top.

There were some newlyweds taking photos outside. It’s interesting to see the different styles of wedding clothes!

I wanted to buy some Sri Lankan art, preferably with birds so I asked some locals and was directed to Laksala, a huge craft shop a few blocks away.

I bought a few batiks since they were easily packed in our carry-ons, then we went out and got a rickshaw to the airport bus stand. It was still a bit early but we didn’t have anything else to do, at least not anything we could do while shlepping all our stuff around! You get a choice of AC or regular bus and we had plenty of rupees left over so went AC as it was still pretty hot and humid.

It took well over an hour to get to the airport………….and this was a Sunday evening! When we arrived, we discovered that we would have to wait about 3 hours until the Singapore Airlines staff arrived for check in. Ina sat with the bags while I scouted the shops for something worth blowing our last few rupees on. It was nice to see all the Christmas decorations!

Sand paintings were tempting but I was afraid they wouldn’t allow them in Australia.

T-shirts were too small.

Ah yes! Here we go, bird batiks! I snapped up a couple and liked them so much I not only finished my rupees, I had to top it off with Visa.

The waiting area was poorly placed where you couldn’t see the board where flights open for check in were displayed. The seats were really uncomfortable and I was desperate to get past the formalities and go to the business class lounge since we had J tickets on SQ.

Not the best lounge in the world but they did have food, drinks and internet! I was pretty sad to leave Sri Lanka as we had had a great time and seen some amazing birds but with so many options especially with One World, I am sure we will be back some day!

Sinharaja Forest Reserve, Sri Lanka

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Tara

Located in south-west Sri Lanka, Sinharaja is the country’s last viable area of primary tropical rainforest. More than 60% of the trees are endemic and many of them are considered rare. There is much endemic wildlife, especially birds, but the reserve is also home to over 50% of Sri Lanka’s endemic species of mammals and butterflies, as well as many kinds of insects, reptiles and rare amphibians. You know when it’s been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO it has to be something special……………….and it is!

GETTING THERE

Use your miles for a Central Asia award ticket to Colombo. From there, you can get a taxi to your accommodation near Kudawa or take a bus to Matugama, then change to a Kalawana bus and get a taxi/rickshaw from there to your accommodation. Obviously there is a trade-off between comfort & convenience and cost.

WHERE TO STAY

Forget about points and try to get into the closest eco-lodge to the park you can get, it will save you the trouble of hiring rickshaws every time you want to go into the park. Don’t expect the Marriott, these are simple lodges that cater to birders and serve their purpose well.

Martin’s Lodge – Yes it really is simple but Martin, the owner is a lovely guy and teh views are amazing! They don’t have a website but more information is here and Trip Advisor reviews here. Do not trust local travel agents who tell you it is full and try to steer you to someplace more expensive. You need to call Martin to get an accurate answer if he can book you in or not. 045 568 1864 He doesn’t have email.

Blue Magpie Lodge – The second closest lodge to the park. I didn’t get a look at it but I met a lady who was staying there and she said it was great! Trip Advisor reviews.

Rock View Motel – About 20 minutes away by auto-rickshaw but add a whole different habitat to your birding with the amazing views over the valley! Trip Advisor reviews

Rainforest Edge – Looks stunning but was way out of our budget. This is the poshest lodge in the area. Trip Advisor reviews.

HOW TO VISIT THE RESERVE

You can walk from Martin’s or Blue Magpie, otherwise you will need an auto rickshaw to drop you and arrange to pick you up. Once you arrive, you need to buy your ticket and pay for a mandatory guide. The guides are very good and know the local birds and animals well. You can’t request a guide, they are assigned by rota. If you don’t have leech socks, you can buy some here, they also sell snacks, cold drinks, postcards & books. This is our guide, his name is Raushan (probably spelled it wrong) and he was very good with bird identification.

Once you have your ticket, your guide will walk with you up the hill pointing out whatever birds and animals he sees along the way. When you reach the top, another official will check your ticket and you can enter the main trail of the reserve.

THE BIRDS

Sinharaja boasts an amazing bird list including many endemics. We saw quite a few in our one day visit: Sri Lanka Junglefowl, Green Imperial Pigeon, Spotted Dove, Sri Lanka Green Pigeon, Emerald Dove, Sri Lanka Wood Pigeon, Layard’s Parakeet, Red-faced Malkoha, Malabar Trogon, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill, Yellow-fronted Barbet, Crimson-fronted Barbet, Lesser Yellownape, Orange Minivet, Sri Lanka Drongo, White-bellied Drongo, Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, Black-capped Bulbul, Red-vented Bulbul, Orange-billed Babbler, Yellow-billed Babbler, Oriental White-eye, Sri Lanka Hill Myna, Lesser Hill Myna, Spot-winged Thrush, Legge’s Flowerpecker, Purple-rumped Sunbird

I couldn’t get a good shot of the Blue Magpie as he stayed well within the dense foliage and the Layard’s Parakeet was just a fleeting glimpse of one darting overhead. Here’s a few of my better shots (LOL).

Malabar Trogon was the best bird I got a photo of.

We did our best to lure the Blue Magpie out but he just wasn’t having it!

OTHER ANIMALS

I forget what lizards these are.

Giant Squirrel

Purple-faced Langur

Pitcher Plants

Birding & Fishing Northwestern Peru

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Tara

Another excellent video by Birding Adventures with some great footage! If you would like to visit this area for yourself, use your miles for a Peru award on either One World or Star Alliance to Lima, then connect to Piura in Northwestern Peru.

Although the host, James Currie does use an app to attract the owl, he does caution against overuse of this practice as it can upset the owl.

Sri Lanka For Birders & Gateway Colombo

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Tara

Sri Lanka is an amazing country for birds. Although small, it has a wide variety of habitats and over 435 species of birds can be seen here. Out of these, 235 are resident and33 of these are endemic. I would have liked to stay longer and explore a bit more but I was doing an impromptu award trip based on an amazing promo so I had to cut back to two birding hotspots – Kithulgala & Sinharaja.

DO YOU NEED A VISA?

Yes, most people do but fortunately this is a painless ETA procedure done online. Print it out and show it to the officers when you arrive. You can also get visas on arrival but I thought it was easiest to do it online and pay by credit card. It costs $30 except for citizens of SAARC countries who pay $15. You can get a 2 day transit visa for free at the airport. I can see this option becoming very popular with Sri Lankan Airlines joining One World for people doing RTW tickets! I would certainly do it and spend my 2 days in Kithulgala!

GETTING THERE

You can get here easily on a Central Asian award. Colombo has fewer airlines serving it than the main cities of India such as Delhi, Mumbai & Bangalore but there are still options for all alliances although One World dominates.

STAR ALLIANCE:

Thai Airways – Bangkok

Singapore Airlines – Singapore

ONE WORLD:

With Sri Lankan Airlines joining One World on 1 March 2014, this really opens up the country to awards. Remember, you can use British Airways Avios & American AAdvantage for good deals on award flights.

Sri-Lankan Airlines – Abu Dhabi, Bangalore, Bangkok, Chennai, Dammam, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Jeddah, Karachi, Kochi, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, London, Maldives, Moscow, Mumbai, Muscat, New Delhi, Paris, Riyadh, Rome, Singapore, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirappalli, Tokyo

Cathay Pacific – Bangkok, Hong Kong

Malaysian – Kuala Lumpur

Qatar – Doha

SKYTEAM:

Korean – Seoul

Saudia – Jeddah, Riyadh

China Eastern – Kunming

NON-ALLIANCE (Bookable with miles):

Etihad – Abu Dhabi (AA Partner)

Emirates – Dubai, Maldives, Singapore (Qantas partner)

WHERE TO STAY ON POINTS

The bad news? Very few chain hotels here so few opportunities to use points.

HILTON – Colombo Hilton & Colombo Hilton Residence – both at 40,000 points.

WYNDHAM – Ramada Katunayake Airport – 8000 points

The good news? Kithulgala is 2 hours away by taxi via a non-trafficky road so it’s pretty much just as quick to stay there rather than the city where you can take almost an hour just to get there from the airport! Most flights seem to leave in the late evening or at night so you probably won’t need a layover in Colombo unless you especially want one, in which case I would just use Pointshound to find a good hotel. Our flight arrived at 2:30am so by the time we finished the formalities we were out by 3:00. I don’t like traveling at night so we waited until almost 5am and took a taxi to Kithulgala. Everyone you see here is either waiting for a flight or waiting for their ride. The kiosks in the rear are taxi companies.

GETTING AROUND

Many tourists like to hire a car & driver for the duration of the trip. Since our itinerary didn’t really require a car at the destinations (to drive to temples, cultural sights, markets, etc) it would have been a waste of money and I was really not comfortable with having an “employee” with us all the time and being responsible for him. We used a taxi for the first leg, Colombo Airport to Kithulgala for a negotiated rate of 6500 rupees, then used buses after that. The official taxi rates are here but because of the competition you can usually bargain with some of the operators. The scenery enroute is gorgeous!

The first bird I saw in Sri Lanka was a Common Mynah.

A couple towns we passed through.

Entering the Kithulgala Resthouse.

Our taxi driver and car dropping us at Kithulgala Resthouse.

Buses are dirt cheap for Western tourists, I don’t think a single one was over $5. They are slow though so allow plenty of time for your transfer or do it around mid-day when the birds are having a siesta!

WHERE THE BIRDS ARE

There are several excellent places for birding in Sri Lanka. I have highlighted a few on this map. I wasn’t able to get to Yala but I will be blogging about Kithulgala and Sinharaja in more detail in due time.

Birding Rally Challenge 2013

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Tara

Since we have the Olympics going on at this time I thought it might be fun to see if birding would make a good Olympic sport. I blogged about this Birding Rally Challenge last year so it’s nice to see how it turned out. Birding Adventures followed one team as they logged as many birds as possible. You’ll notice that they flew on One World member LAN for domestic sectors which is an excellent use of British Airways Avios at 4500 miles per sector. Would you like to take up the challenge? Start at the gateway of Lima and grab a North-South America award!

Gateway City: Bangalore, India

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Tara

I briefly touched upon Bangalore as a gateway to Coorg but this will be a more comprehensive guide. Bangalore is India’s third most populous city and is known as the Silicon Valley of India because of its role as the nation’s leading Information Technology (IT) exporter. But once you get out of the urban jungle into the lush Western Ghats a far more beautiful jungle awaits you!

BANGALORE AIRPORT

Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru is a large modern structure.

But nothing wrong with starting your birding a bit early at the food court! These photos were taken in the domestic terminal.

GETTING THERE

Bangalore (as well as all Indian cities) requires a Central Asian award. There are no direct flights from the USA, Canada or Australia so you will have to travel via Europe or South-east Asia.

STAR ALLIANCE

Thai flies from Bangkok

Lufthansa flies from Frankfurt

Singapore Airlines flies from Singapore

ONE WORLD

Sri Lankan flies from Colombo

Qatar Airways flies from Doha

Malaysian flies from Kuala Lumpur

Dragonair (Cathay Pacific affiliate) flies from Hong Kong

British Airways flies from London

SKYTEAM

Air France flies from Paris

Saudia flies from Damman, Jeddah, Riyadh

NON-ALLIANCE BOOKABLE WITH MILES

Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi (AA partner)

Emirates flies from Dubai (Qantas partner)

Air Mauritius flies from Mauritius (Air France partner)

DOMESTIC

Air India (future Star Alliance), IndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Airways, Jet Lite

WHERE TO STAY WITH HOTEL POINTS

As one may expect, India’s 3rd largest city is well supplied with chain hotels you can book with points. Pay close attention to the location as you can get stuck in traffic for hours!

Best Western – 3 hotels ranging from 12,000 – 16,000 points

Choice – 2 hotels ranging from 8000 – 12,000 points

Club Carlson – Park Plaza – 38,000 points My review

Hilton – Double Tree Suites – 40,000 points

Hyatt – Hyatt Bangalore MG Road – 12,000 points

IHG – Crowne Plaza – 30,000 points

Marriott – 4 hotels ranging from 7500 – 30,000 points

Starwood – 5 hotels ranging from 4000 – 10,000 points

GROUND TRANSPORT

Booking buses and trains in advance can be a challenge for foreign tourists as bot Indian Rail and most bus companies require a mobile phone to set up an account. I have a more detailed post on my experiences with buying bus tickets during my recent trip. Back in 2011, I was able to book trains online with Cleartrip. It seems they changed the procedure so you now have to get an account with IRCTC.

TO & FROM THE AIRPORT

There will be prepaid taxis available at any time your flight comes in. See more information and approximate fares here. You’d be looking at 600-800ish rupees.

There are also Vayu Vajra airport buses but only a very few run through the wee hours when flights tend to come in. See the website for schedules and fares which are very cheap. We ended up jumping on the first one that was going downtown (just after midnight), then getting an auto-rickshaw to our hotel. Local people know the approximate fares for taxis and auto-rickshaws but for tourists it is best to ask someone what they would pay to go someplace and bargain to the best of your ability!

WHAT TO DO & SEE IN BANGALORE

Bannerghatta Wildlife Sanctuary – detailed report coming tomorrow. Located in Bannerghatta National Park.

Lal Bagh

Government Museum

Karnataka Folk Museum

Kempegowda Museum

Shopping areas – Chickpet & MG Road

Mudumalai National Park, Tamil Nadu, India

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Tara

Mudumalai National Park is located in Tamil Nadu (fly to Bangalore on a Central Asian award, then take a bus) and adjoins Wayanad in Kerala and Bandipur in Karnataka. The very impressive bird list includes (to name a few) Malabar Trogon, Malabar Whistling Thrush, Large Racket-Tailed Drongos, Spotted Babbler, Green Pigeons, Brown Dove, Malabar Grey Hornbill, Parakeets, Bulbuls, Cuckoos, Hornbills, Scops Owl, Tiny-eared Owl, Black Woodpecker, Mynas, Barbets to name a few. Among birds of prey, the Crested Hawk Eagles, Crested Serpent Eagle, Buzzards, Harriers, Falcons and the King Vulture are predominant. The Mudumalai National Park also attracts a considerable number of migratory water birds. Most tourists come here hoping to see a tiger (and usually don’t) but still enjoy watching elephants and monkeys which are easily seen.

The main Ooty-Mysore road runs straight through both Mudumalai and Bandipur so you may be lucky enough to see wildlife from your car, especially monkeys! If you want to really get into the park, you must take a tour from the park headquarters.

Deer are seen everywhere!

And it was pretty cool to see peacocks!

This is where the main park headquarters is.

We had hired a jeep for the afternoon and he parked here while we walked up to where you buy tickets.

Monkeys hoping for a handout.

Book the safari here. It was around 135 rupees, 25 rupees for a camera and the minibus goes when full. We only had to wait about 20 minutes to get enough people.

Off we went and promptly saw more deer and peacocks.

This was my best find, I saw the flash of green in the trees and knew it had to be parakeets. It wasn’t until I zoomed in that I was able to identify Plum-headed Parakeets. I was the only one in the minibus who was excited to see them, the other (Indian) tourists didn’t even lift their cameras!

Monkeys were of greater interest to the other tourists.

After the safari which lasted about an hour, we were led across the street to see the elephant feeding……………and more monkeys! This is included in the cost of the safari.

Getting From Wayanad To Mudumalai

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Tara

The distances are not that far so getting from Wayanad to Mudumalai can be done in a few hours by public transport if you get the timings right.

Grassroots – Pinangode – Sulthan Bathery – Gudalur – Mudumalai

We took an auto-rickshaw from Grassroots to the bus stand at Pinangode. Some of the buses are very attractively decorated!

Next we caught a bus to Sultan Bathery. These buses can be very crowed and we had to stand at first, then when some people got out enroute we grabbed their seats. The scenery was very nice!

Once we arrived in Sultan Bathery, we found out the next bus to Gudalur wouldn’t be for another 3 hours. Even monkeys playing nearby weren’t going to keep me in a bus station for 3 hours!

We asked a taxi driver to take us, he said that there are special taxis that do long distance routes and he would send one over to the bus station. 20 minutes later, one showed up and we paid about $20ish for the ride to Gudalur.

We traveled through Mudumalai Tiger Reserve but didn’t see any tigers. Few people ever do.

The scenery was great!

We arrived in Gudalur and while the taxi driver was asking some locals how to get to Gouri Farm, I bought some snacks that I hoped wouldn’t be too spicy to bring along for lunch.

Finally we arrived at Gouri Farm where the owner, Dr Shyla was there to greet us!

Birding In Wayanad, Kerala

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Tara

Wayanad, in India’s Western Ghats offers pretty much the same species as Coorg in Karnataka and Mudumalai in Tamil Nadu. We stayed at the Grassroots Wayanad Lodge near Kalpetta which is between Bangalore and Kochi so either can serve as your gateway city for your Central Asia award. We had Adi (Aditya) the owner organize a local guide with a jeep to take us birding. He was a bit late picking us up but we did see a few more birds along the roadside just outside the lodge.

While having breakfast, we watched some kids playing soccer.

The driver finally showed up and we headed off to the nearby rainforest along the river to look for birds. We started too late to get really good sightings but the butterflies were numerous and very pretty.

Next we visited a lake that seemed to be a popular picnic spot for locals with pedal boats for hire. It wasn’t very birdy though.

We saw a few more birds including a female Scarlet Minivet on the way back, then picked up some takeaway food to bring back to Grassroots for lunch. We pulled over an ice cream seller on a motorcyle and bought some ice cream to take back as well.

Miles To The Wild

Create unforgettable eco-tourism and birding adventures using miles & points!

Category Archives: Destinations

Just Returned From Birding In The Aussie Outback

A Rocky Road To Colombo (CMB) That Ends With A Shopping Spree & Lounge

Sinharaja Forest Reserve, Sri Lanka

GETTING THERE

WHERE TO STAY

THE BIRDS

OTHER ANIMALS

Birding & Fishing Northwestern Peru

Sri Lanka For Birders & Gateway Colombo

DO YOU NEED A VISA?

WHERE TO STAY ON POINTS

GETTING AROUND

WHERE THE BIRDS ARE

Birding Rally Challenge 2013

Gateway City: Bangalore, India

BANGALORE AIRPORT

GETTING THERE

WHERE TO STAY WITH HOTEL POINTS

GROUND TRANSPORT

TO & FROM THE AIRPORT

WHAT TO DO & SEE IN BANGALORE

Mudumalai National Park, Tamil Nadu, India

Getting From Wayanad To Mudumalai

Birding In Wayanad, Kerala