China: Yunnan
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Overview
Highlights
- Visiting historic Lijiang, a UNESCO World Heritage site
- Drive onto Tengchong, an area famed for its mild climate, its ancient volcanoes and geothermal springs.
- Opportunity to spend in the heart of Gaoligong Shan’s incredibly varied forests and to find some of its avian wonders
- Viewing Brown-winged Parrotbill and Slender-billed Oriole before heading east to Nabang, a small town nestled low down right beside the Myanmar border.
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Trip includes
- All travel · departure tax · the protection of our own ATOL bond
- All accommodation
- All meals · drinks with meals
- All tour-based tips and collections
- All excursions
- The services of a professional leader
- Loyalty Discount schemeclient cancellation and Refunds:
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Itinerary
The tour begins with a flight from London to Beijing.
Arriving in Beijing we’ll connect with a flight south to Mangshi in western Yunnan. It’s unlikely that we will arrive in time to do any birdwatching and so we will almost certainly drive straight to our hotel.
Today we’ll headed south from Mangshi to Ruili. Known as the home of the Dai ethnic group, Ruili is bordered on three sides by Myanmar and is a large, prosperous border settlement. The import of gems, jade ware and jadeite from neighbouring Myanmar have helped create ...
After another morning near Ruili searching for species that we might have missed earlier, we’ll head off to Nabang, a much smaller settlement than Ruili but another that’s nestled besides the Myanmar border. Night in Nabang.
Spending two full days around the tiny border settlement, we’ll have ample time to see many of the area’s lower elevation ornithological delights. Some, such as Grey Peacock-pheasant and Spot-bellied Eagle Owl, are genuinely rare and decidedly elusive but others, hop...
After a final morning at Nabang we’ll drive onto Tengchong, an area famed for its mild climate, its ancient volcanoes and geothermal springs. Tengchong also played an important role during the Second World War when Allied pilots flew sorties over ‘the hump’, resupplying Chinese forces fighting the Japanese. We’ll spend the night in a comfortable hotel in Tengchong.
We may be woken by the attractive song of Black-breasted Thrush - the first of a handful of Tengchong specialities that we’ll spend the morning searching for. A pleasant bird-thronged park holds our other targets - Mountain Bamboo Partridge, the localised Brown-winged...
Spending two full days based at Baihualing right in the heart of Gaoligong Shan’s incredibly varied forests we’ll have a reasonable amount of time to find some of its avian wonders. In stands of bamboo we’ll search for delights such as Broad-billed Warbler and Slender...
After a final morning we’ll leave Baihualing and the mighty Gaoligong Mountain range for a short drive north to Baoshan.
Leaving Baoshan early we’ll have our longest drive of the tour as we head north to Lijiang. Our drive’s now much shorter thanks due to a recently completed expressway and takes just half a day. We expect to arrive in Lijiang in time to do some local birding and will s...
We’ll spend a full day around picturesque Lijiang and will leave early for a site where the poorly known and globally threatened White-speckled Laughingthrush was recently discovered. Other target species in the rich forests here include the fabulously inquisitive Ruf...
After a final morning in Lijiang we’ll take a flight to Kunming, Yunnan’s provincial capital, before another from there back to Beijing. Night in a hotel near Beijing’s International Airport.
After a leisurely breakfast we’ll catch a flight back to London where the tour concludes later the same day.
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Dates & Availability
Check Current Availability, prices, specials with Sunbird Tours.
The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.
Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.
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Tour Operator
Sunbird was originally created in 1979 as part of the Serenissima Travel Group of London. In 1980, Sunbird joined forces with the successful American bird tour operator WINGS, offering a wider choice of tours and with each company taking responsibility for those destinations where it had greater experience. In 1982, Sunbird was purchased from Serenissima by WINGS and David Fisher who established a new company - Conderbury Ltd. (trading as Sunbird).
Our Tours: We hope that the day-by-day description on our website gives an accurate impression of how each tour runs but if you have any questions about any aspect of our tours, please call us.
Each tour-specific page contains:
Bird List. This is coded to show how many times each species has been seen, as well as giving the species seen on the most recent tour. It also has a brief description of the most recent tour written by the leader.
Our Leaders: A good leader is crucial to the success of any tour and we are very pleased with the consistently glowing feedback we receive about Sunbird and WINGS leaders. Our leaders who take a real pride in their job and who look forward to sharing their passion for their favourite destinations with you. If you have a specific question about a tour that is best dealt with by the leader, we can arrange to put you both in touch. You can find a brief biography for each of the leaders who work for Sunbird
Our tour prices: Sunbird tour price includes:
· all travel · departure tax · the protection of our own ATOL bond
· all accommodation
. all meals · drinks with meals
· all tour-based tips and collections
· all excursions
· the services of a professional leader
· Loyalty Discount Scheme
The items which you will be required to pay yourself are your individual requirements for passports, visas, travel insurance, and purchases of a purely personal nature. If you are trying to decide which company to travel with, or you are comparing prices, you should bear the above points in mind. A similar tour with a lower price may mean that the company in question might be cutting corners somewhere (some companies don’t include all meals, for example).
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Logistics
What's excluded
- Travel insurance
- Passport costs and Visas
- Immunisations
- Excess baggage charges
- Optional excursions
- Telephone calls, drinks, laundry, room service, snacks and anything of a purely personal nature
Client cancellation and Refunds.
Refunds for tours are made according to the following schedule:
If notice of cancellation is received more than 98 days before departure, the deposit less £100 per person is refundable, less any penalties we incur due to your cancellation (such as on air tickets, which can be as high as 50% or even 100%). If notice of cancellation is received between 98 and 70 days
In both instances the balance of the deposit can be transferred to a new booking for another specified tour scheduled to depart within 18 months of the start date of the original tour. Should you have to cancel from that second tour the original deposit cannot be transferred a second time and becomes non-refundable.
If notice of cancellation is received 70 days or less from departure, neither the deposit nor most of the balance of the tour costs can be refunded, though we will refund separable costs such as on individual airline tickets or room charges, in so far as monies are returned to us by the providers of these services. We cannot refund inseparable costs such as those for ground transportation, leader’s expenses or other fixed-cost services. In most cases the refundable portion will be less than 50% and may be zero.
Tour cancellation: We reserve the right to cancel any tour or tour extension for which there are insufficient reservations - normally 70 days before the departure date but sometimes longer. Please note that, although unlikely, this could occur after the final invoices have been sent out if the tour is running on small numbers and if someone cancels just before the 70-day deadline. In case of cancellation, all deposits and other payments will be refunded. Please also note that the cancellation of a tour’s pre-tour or post-tour extension does not alter your rights or obligations with respect to the main portion of the same tour
Travel insurance:
Travel insurance is essential and we insist that you take out suitable cover as soon as your tour is booked. If you are bringing expensive optical equipment or other valuable items, please make sure they are also adequately insured on your home contents policy, as most travel insurance policies do not cover very expensive individual items. You may wish to consult your insurance broker regarding coverage. Please also ensure that your policy covers you in the event of a medical emergency, cancellation of a trip or severe delays. Medical costs abroad can often be extremely expensive. Please note that Sunbird is not liable for any medical or repatriation costs resulting from injury or illness during a tour or for covering any costs resulting from a flight delay such as extra hotel accommodation.
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