More Local Short Breaks

I love the work I do - I am 'living the dream' and will never take that for granted. I am so lucky to visit many fabulous areas of Spain and countries of the world in persuit of wildlife but I still get a great thrill from working locally.

My area is essentially the infamous Costa Blanca, with the even more infamous Benidorm at its epicentre but there's so much more if your willing to look. The Valencia Short Break is essentially five nights visiting four distinct areas within Valencia and Castilla La Mancha.

In February and March (either side of our India trip) I did two 'Tailor-made Trips' around this area, which were brilliant and would grace any bird species list for late Winter in Southern Europe.

The highlights included - Greater Spotted, Bonelli's, Golden, Short-toed & Booted Eagles, Griffon Vultures, Lesser Kestrels, 2 Eagle Owls, 50+ Great Bustards, 70+ Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, White-headed Ducks, Garganey, Glossy Ibis, Purple & Squacco Herons, Spotted Crake, 50+ Great Bustards, Common Cranes, Caspian Tern, Little, Audouin's & Slender-billed Gulls, Moustached Warbler, Black Wheatear and much much more.

  

Tigers and Taj Mahal

In early March I was part of a small group that formed part of my first India - Tigers and Taj Mahal holiday and it was fabulous. Not only was the wildlife superb (and more on this later) but the logistics, hotels and especially the food (one of the hotel's purified their own water and it was very drinkable).

It is over 20 years since I last visited the sub-continent and things are still busy, wild and frantic with driving a complete art-form - I still have no idea how there's no road rage!!! It is definitely something everyone should experience at some point in their life.

As I said the wildlife was awesome and to see Tiger in the wild was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced, especially with the views we got. The following link (here) shows just how lucky we were! 



Bengal Tiger at Kanha NP