This is the feedback I gave to Rockjumpers about a tour I went on to PNG in August 2011. If you are a serious birder, I would not recommend travelling on their tour with 9 or 10 others. be warned or at least prepared…. I did not receive an evaluation form before departing from the leaders – and I am happy to give constructive feedback. It won’t be pretty but the leaders will be perfectly aware of all the major issues: 1. the people on the tour were too old, unfit and had virtually no birding skills or knowledge2. because of 1 they: a) needed long rests ( I would go and bird alone most days in the breaks of up to 4 hours!). b) were more interested in eating than birding. c) could not walk far and struggled to walk up hill. Some trails were not even attempted. d) took a huge amount of time to see the birds. This was mainly because there was 1 scope between the 10 people and most had poor eye-sight. e) there were 12-14 pe ople going down narrow trails looking for shy birds which is a joke. I left the group to bird independently at every opportunity. f) they made night birding a complete nightmare and I felt guilty for continuously raising the issue. I actually had to be left alone in remote locations in PNG jungles for many hours on end to see difficult species – such as Papuan hawk Owl. I did not in any way dislike the group or any individuals – but birding wise it ranged from a joke to a nightmare. These trips are NOT for real birders. They are for OLD people who are generally happy to spend 1 second looking down a telescope to tick something. If they glimpse a bird, a shadow etc. most of them count what they are told they’ve seen. I had my own Leica 77 for the whole trip and I was completely independent from the queue at one leader’s scope (the other leader rarely took his because it wasn’t working properly). Add to the above the amount of time we stood around waiting for buses to show up because the agent didn’t have control of what was going on (we lost many, many hours of birding time), descriptions in the published itineraries which are at best ‘economical with the truth’ and good local bird guides that Rockjumpers booked and paid for who were ‘unavailable’ e.g. Daniel Wakra was guiding others when he should have been with us, and I spent most of the very trip frustrated. The leaders did help try me to bird alone where possible which I really appreciated and I did see a lot more birds than the general group – but overall I was bitterly disappointed with the whole experience. I actually feel really sorry for the leaders in a situation like this. Cheers Rob Morris Rob Morris
Brisbane, Australia
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Judith, Tours I’ve lead and tours I’ve taken have always followed the policy that the published itinerary took precedence over everything but emergency and unanimity. That being said there has been some flexibility to allow for changed conditions but this usually meant equal or more time in the field.
Regards, Alan
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Hi Rob,
Yes, it is capacity and not age that counts, but as you point out that frailty was an issue it is bonkers to accept frail people on a tour like this. I am sympathetic to the point that Wim made about tours being more likely to cater for the older birder. BUT it is false advertising if they advise that a moderate to high level of fitness is required and then accept bookings from people who cannot keep up with the itinerary. In your shoes I would not be a happy camper!!
A friend went on a PNG trip a few years back and came across the same issue. However the response of the head guide was very different – if the itinerary said something was going to happen then it did (even if only 1 person in the group stll wanted to do it) and those who could not keep up were left behind in camp.
I know that some would argue that if the majority wanted to skip an activity set down in the itinerary, then that would be OK. I might roll over and accept it a couple of times (heaven forbid, I could even forsee circumstances where I might want to take time out from a hectic itinerary!) but if there were multiple activities on the itinerary that were not done because of the fitness levels of the participants then I would expect some sort of recompense.
Thanks for the post!
Judith
CC: birding-aus@vicnet.net.au
HI Judith
I guess age isn’t the major issue as you suggest – it was fitness. A number were well into their 70s and so there were fitness / frailty issues and age is a factor.
And yes – it was because it was the first time in PNG and safety is an issue>
Rob Morris
Brisbane, Australia
CC: birding-aus@vicnet.net.au
Hi Rob,
I was wondering exactly what you mean by participants being ‘old’ ?? Is that 60, 70 or older. I have seen many decrepit 50 year olds and many fit 70 year olds! So it is really not about age but about capacity – which clearly was lacking in your group. As the tour company identified that the trip was moderate to hard with a high level of fitness required, then I think you are justified in being totally miffed! Apart from anything else, one would imagine the company is in breach of a duty of care if it accepts bookings from people who lack the capacity to withstand the rigors of the trip. You are also right about the number of participants – way too many.
I know most of your trips are self organized. Was this not an option in PNG because of safety issues? I would be very interested to know if any other people have successfully undertaken self organized tours in the region.
On a side note, I see that a number of people have mentioned doing tours to India with Rockjumpers. Can I just say that doing a self organized trip to India is pretty easy to do. Although it is possible to organize rail travel on the internet, it does help to have an agent on the ground over there to do that for you but even this may not be an issue if you have plenty of time to organize the trip. I had less than a month’s notice to put the trip together and the timing was a bit off because we went at a time when most Indians are also on holiday. It took me a week of fairly intensive internet activity to organize a complex 25 day itinerary for 3 people with 3 internal flights, one full day train trip and one overnight train trip, guides and drivers for 16 days. The TOTAL cost (including every rupee spent on tips, food and drinks) was $7,500 for the 3 of us (airfares to India on Frequent Flyer points). One of our guides was awful and that ‘cost’ us more than a few birds .
Apart from that we saved a bucket of money and did exactly what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it. I cannot wait to go back. In the next couple of years we will go to Assam and I will certainly not be going with an organized tour.
Regards
Judith
Judith Hoyle Brisbane 0437549301
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HI Judith
I guess age isn’t the major issue as you suggest – it was fitness. A number were well into their 70s and so there were fitness / frailty issues and age is a factor.
And yes – it was because it was the first time in PNG and safety is an issue>
Rob Morris
Brisbane, Australia
CC: birding-aus@vicnet.net.au
Hi Rob,
I was wondering exactly what you mean by participants being ‘old’ ?? Is that 60, 70 or older. I have seen many decrepit 50 year olds and many fit 70 year olds! So it is really not about age but about capacity – which clearly was lacking in your group. As the tour company identified that the trip was moderate to hard with a high level of fitness required, then I think you are justified in being totally miffed! Apart from anything else, one would imagine the company is in breach of a duty of care if it accepts bookings from people who lack the capacity to withstand the rigors of the trip. You are also right about the number of participants – way too many.
I know most of your trips are self organized. Was this not an option in PNG because of safety issues? I would be very interested to know if any other people have successfully undertaken self organized tours in the region.
On a side note, I see that a number of people have mentioned doing tours to India with Rockjumpers. Can I just say that doing a self organized trip to India is pretty easy to do. Although it is possible to organize rail travel on the internet, it does help to have an agent on the ground over there to do that for you but even this may not be an issue if you have plenty of time to organize the trip. I had less than a month’s notice to put the trip together and the timing was a bit off because we went at a time when most Indians are also on holiday. It took me a week of fairly intensive internet activity to organize a complex 25 day itinerary for 3 people with 3 internal flights, one full day train trip and one overnight train trip, guides and drivers for 16 days. The TOTAL cost (including every rupee spent on tips, food and drinks) was $7,500 for the 3 of us (airfares to India on Frequent Flyer points). One of our guides was awful and that ‘cost’ us more than a few birds .
Apart from that we saved a bucket of money and did exactly what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it. I cannot wait to go back. In the next couple of years we will go to Assam and I will certainly not be going with an organized tour.
Regards
Judith
Judith Hoyle Brisbane 0437549301
===============================
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Hi Rob,
I was wondering exactly what you mean by participants being ‘old’ ?? Is that 60, 70 or older. I have seen many decrepit 50 year olds and many fit 70 year olds! So it is really not about age but about capacity – which clearly was lacking in your group. As the tour company identified that the trip was moderate to hard with a high level of fitness required, then I think you are justified in being totally miffed! Apart from anything else, one would imagine the company is in breach of a duty of care if it accepts bookings from people who lack the capacity to withstand the rigors of the trip. You are also right about the number of participants – way too many.
I know most of your trips are self organized. Was this not an option in PNG because of safety issues? I would be very interested to know if any other people have successfully undertaken self organized tours in the region.
On a side note, I see that a number of people have mentioned doing tours to India with Rockjumpers. Can I just say that doing a self organized trip to India is pretty easy to do. Although it is possible to organize rail travel on the internet, it does help to have an agent on the ground over there to do that for you but even this may not be an issue if you have plenty of time to organize the trip. I had less than a month’s notice to put the trip together and the timing was a bit off because we went at a time when most Indians are also on holiday. It took me a week of fairly intensive internet activity to organize a complex 25 day itinerary for 3 people with 3 internal flights, one full day train trip and one overnight train trip, guides and drivers for 16 days. The TOTAL cost (including every rupee spent on tips, food and drinks) was $7,500 for the 3 of us (airfares to India on Frequent Flyer points). One of our guides was awful and that ‘cost’ us more than a few birds .
Apart from that we saved a bucket of money and did exactly what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it. I cannot wait to go back. In the next couple of years we will go to Assam and I will certainly not be going with an organized tour.
Regards
Judith
Judith Hoyle Brisbane 0437549301
pe es
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Dave
I agree with your points!
PNG was specified as moderate to hard and a high level of fitness was required! Only the guides and I were fit. I was 80kgs when I left and 71kgs when I got back! But i probably walked at least 2x what the group did! Most of them were probably larger on return as while they were having 3 course lunches I was birding!
Rob Morris
Brisbane, Australia
CC: birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au; birding-aus@vicnet.net.au
I think there are two issues to consider on birding trips:
Firstly the number of people and the type of terrain – if it is mainly rainforest birding then obviously the smaller the group the better – although this tends to increase the cost of course. Open country birding is fine with a group of this size – I did NW India with Rockjumper and a group of this size and there were no problems as it was all desert, wetlands and fairly open forest.
Secondly is the degree of difficulty – many operators indicate if the birding/terrain is easy, moderate or hard. I would certainly not go with an operator who did not specify this – of course not much an operator can do if they say it is hard and unfit people come I guess
Dave
This is the feedback I gave to Rockjumpers about a tour I went on to PNG in August 2011. If you are a serious birder, I would not recommend travelling on their tour with 9 or 10 others. be warned or at least prepared…. I did not receive an evaluation form before departing from the leaders – and I am happy to give constructive feedback. It won’t be pretty but the leaders will be perfectly aware of all the major issues: 1. the people on the tour were too old, unfit and had virtually no birding skills or knowledge2. because of 1 they: a) needed long rests ( I would go and bird alone most days in the breaks of up to 4 hours!). b) were more interested in eating than birding. c) could not walk far and struggled to walk up hill. Some trails were not even attempted. d) took a huge amount of time to see the birds. This was mainly because there was 1 scope between the 10 people and most had poor eye-sight. e) there were 12-14 pe ople going down narrow trails looking for shy birds which is a joke. I left the group to bird independently at every opportunity. f) they made night birding a complete nightmare and I felt guilty for continuously raising the issue. I actually had to be left alone in remote locations in PNG jungles for many hours on end to see difficult species – such as Papuan hawk Owl. I did not in any way dislike the group or any individuals – but birding wise it ranged from a joke to a nightmare. These trips are NOT for real birders. They are for OLD people who are generally happy to spend 1 second looking down a telescope to tick something. If they glimpse a bird, a shadow etc. most of them count what they are told they’ve seen. I had my own Leica 77 for the whole trip and I was completely independent from the queue at one leader’s scope (the other leader rarely took his because it wasn’t working properly). Add to the above the amount of time we stood around waiting for buses to show up because the agent didn’t have control of what was going on (we lost many, many hours of birding time), descriptions in the published itineraries which are at best ‘economical with the truth’ and good local bird guides that Rockjumpers booked and paid for who were ‘unavailable’ e.g. Daniel Wakra was guiding others when he should have been with us, and I spent most of the very trip frustrated. The leaders did help try me to bird alone where possible which I really appreciated and I did see a lot more birds than the general group – but overall I was bitterly disappointed with the whole experience. I actually feel really sorry for the leaders in a situation like this. Cheers Rob Morris Rob Morris
Brisbane, Australia
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Dave
I agree with your points!
PNG was specified as moderate to hard and a high level of fitness was required! Only the guides and I were fit. I was 80kgs when I left and 71kgs when I got back! But i probably walked at least 2x what the group did! Most of them were probably larger on return as while they were having 3 course lunches I was birding!
Rob Morris
Brisbane, Australia
CC: birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au; birding-aus@vicnet.net.au
I think there are two issues to consider on birding trips:
Firstly the number of people and the type of terrain – if it is mainly rainforest birding then obviously the smaller the group the better – although this tends to increase the cost of course. Open country birding is fine with a group of this size – I did NW India with Rockjumper and a group of this size and there were no problems as it was all desert, wetlands and fairly open forest.
Secondly is the degree of difficulty – many operators indicate if the birding/terrain is easy, moderate or hard. I would certainly not go with an operator who did not specify this – of course not much an operator can do if they say it is hard and unfit people come I guess
Dave
This is the feedback I gave to Rockjumpers about a tour I went on to PNG in August 2011. If you are a serious birder, I would not recommend travelling on their tour with 9 or 10 others. be warned or at least prepared…. I did not receive an evaluation form before departing from the leaders – and I am happy to give constructive feedback. It won’t be pretty but the leaders will be perfectly aware of all the major issues: 1. the people on the tour were too old, unfit and had virtually no birding skills or knowledge2. because of 1 they: a) needed long rests ( I would go and bird alone most days in the breaks of up to 4 hours!). b) were more interested in eating than birding. c) could not walk far and struggled to walk up hill. Some trails were not even attempted. d) took a huge amount of time to see the birds. This was mainly because there was 1 scope between the 10 people and most had poor eye-sight. e) there were 12-14 pe ople going down narrow trails looking for shy birds which is a joke. I left the group to bird independently at every opportunity. f) they made night birding a complete nightmare and I felt guilty for continuously raising the issue. I actually had to be left alone in remote locations in PNG jungles for many hours on end to see difficult species – such as Papuan hawk Owl. I did not in any way dislike the group or any individuals – but birding wise it ranged from a joke to a nightmare. These trips are NOT for real birders. They are for OLD people who are generally happy to spend 1 second looking down a telescope to tick something. If they glimpse a bird, a shadow etc. most of them count what they are told they’ve seen. I had my own Leica 77 for the whole trip and I was completely independent from the queue at one leader’s scope (the other leader rarely took his because it wasn’t working properly). Add to the above the amount of time we stood around waiting for buses to show up because the agent didn’t have control of what was going on (we lost many, many hours of birding time), descriptions in the published itineraries which are at best ‘economical with the truth’ and good local bird guides that Rockjumpers booked and paid for who were ‘unavailable’ e.g. Daniel Wakra was guiding others when he should have been with us, and I spent most of the very trip frustrated. The leaders did help try me to bird alone where possible which I really appreciated and I did see a lot more birds than the general group – but overall I was bitterly disappointed with the whole experience. I actually feel really sorry for the leaders in a situation like this. Cheers Rob Morris Rob Morris
Brisbane, Australia
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
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===============================
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http://birding-aus.org ===============================
I think there are two issues to consider on birding trips:
Firstly the number of people and the type of terrain – if it is mainly rainforest birding then obviously the smaller the group the better – although this tends to increase the cost of course. Open country birding is fine with a group of this size – I did NW India with Rockjumper and a group of this size and there were no problems as it was all desert, wetlands and fairly open forest.
Secondly is the degree of difficulty – many operators indicate if the birding/terrain is easy, moderate or hard. I would certainly not go with an operator who did not specify this – of course not much an operator can do if they say it is hard and unfit people come I guess
Dave
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
I think there are two issues to consider on birding trips:
Firstly the number of people and the type of terrain – if it is mainly rainforest birding then obviously the smaller the group the better – although this tends to increase the cost of course. Open country birding is fine with a group of this size – I did NW India with Rockjumper and a group of this size and there were no problems as it was all desert, wetlands and fairly open forest.
Secondly is the degree of difficulty – many operators indicate if the birding/terrain is easy, moderate or hard. I would certainly not go with an operator who did not specify this – of course not much an operator can do if they say it is hard and unfit people come I guess
Dave
===============================
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Dear Rob and Birding-aussers, I have never been to PNG—in fact actually fear I may no longer be up to it at 75–, and I have no knowledge of this actual tour, but I still feel that you have maybe gone on this tour with somewhat unreasonable expectations. I myself have during these last years been on one or two birding tours every year (i.a. with Rockjumpers to Madagascar and Namibia-Botswana), and I am one of the older people that Rob had so much troubles with. I have always had bad eyesight, and am now also hard of hearing, and the days are probably not far ahead when I have to pass on the steepest and most slippery slopes. I love nature and birds, but I am at best a moderate birder and am much dependent on leader and participants to show me the birds I never would have found on my own. I am not a ‘ticker’ though, although I do keep a life list (around 4000), and I love to watch also the commoner birds again and again. So in many respects I am one of the elderly people, that according to Rob should never come on such trips, as they are in the way and disturb the real birders. I beg to differ! I think that in fact most birding company trips are primarily meant for people like me, who need the assistance in logistics, bird spotting and bird identification, and who have much more problems in organizing such trips on their own—often considerably cheaper. As these trips are expensive, it is no wonder that many of the participants are elderly (although this changes a lot from trip to trip: last year in Argentina I was the youngest participant, this year in Ecuador by far the oldest (both VENT trips)). The ornithological knowledge of the participants is indeed quite variable, although most have traveled extensively on similar trips, and many are much better birders than I am. Also, some participants may be not in the best of mobility; again, in Argentina we had regularly to assist an 80-year old both to get around, and to find the birds—he had had many eye operations—, but the man derived great pleasure of the birds he saw and clearly had a most satisfactory trip.. And this year an elderly lady skipped the day we visited Angel Paz and his steep forest paths towards the Cock-of-the -Rock display area, but she greatly enjoyed the other days.
Going on a trip with 10-12 other people always means one has to adapt to a certain degree. Each group has usually at least one person to whom one has difficulties adapting: incessant talkers, people who always are first at the telescope and show little empathy for the others, people who never help other find the birds, people who clearly are on the wrong trip, etc. These problems arise independently of the quality of the birding knowledge of these participants: the one time one participant had to be let go, because he very clearly was unfit to be in a group, the person concerned had the sharpest eyes and best spotting abilities of anybody I have met on these trips
I fully grant that the normal birding trips, with Rockjumpers as well as with other companies, will often feel frustrating and limiting for the best birders, but for them the solution, if they are unable to organize their trips themselves, must be to use the possibility of customized tours, while the ‘normal’ birding trips are primarily for people like me: run-of-the-mill birders, who through these trips and their leaders get the chance to see many more birds, and those also much better, than they ever would be able to see on their own. My two Ruckjumper trips were a great pleasure, and I won’t hesitate to go out with them again.
Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum 9037 Tromsø, Norway wim.vader@uit.no
________________________________________ Van: birding-aus-bounces@lists.vicnet.net.au [birding-aus-bounces@lists.vicnet.net.au] namens robert morris [robert_p_morris@hotmail.com] Verzonden: zondag 1 januari 2012 10:01 Aan: birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au; birding aus Onderwerp: [Birding-Aus] Feedback on Rockjumpers PNG birding Tour July-August 2011 – Between a rock and a hard place so think before you jump!
This is the feedback I gave to Rockjumpers about a tour I went on to PNG in August 2011. If you are a serious birder, I would not recommend travelling on their tour with 9 or 10 others. be warned or at least prepared…. I did not receive an evaluation form before departing from the leaders – and I am happy to give constructive feedback. It won’t be pretty but the leaders will be perfectly aware of all the major issues: 1. the people on the tour were too old, unfit and had virtually no birding skills or knowledge2. because of 1 they: a) needed long rests ( I would go and bird alone most days in the breaks of up to 4 hours!). b) were more interested in eating than birding. c) could not walk far and struggled to walk up hill. Some trails were not even attempted. d) took a huge amount of time to see the birds. This was mainly because there was 1 scope between the 10 people and most had poor eye-sight. e) there were 12-14 pe ople going down narrow trails looking for shy birds which is a joke. I left the group to bird independently at every opportunity. f) they made night birding a complete nightmare and I felt guilty for continuously raising the issue. I actually had to be left alone in remote locations in PNG jungles for many hours on end to see difficult species – such as Papuan hawk Owl. I did not in any way dislike the group or any individuals – but birding wise it ranged from a joke to a nightmare. These trips are NOT for real birders. They are for OLD people who are generally happy to spend 1 second looking down a telescope to tick something. If they glimpse a bird, a shadow etc. most of them count what they are told they’ve seen. I had my own Leica 77 for the whole trip and I was completely independent from the queue at one leader’s scope (the other leader rarely took his because it wasn’t working properly). Add to the above the amount of time we stood around waiting for buses to show up because the agent didn’t have control of what was going on (we lost many, many hours of birding time), descriptions in the published itineraries which are at best ‘economical with the truth’ and good local bird guides that Rockjumpers booked and paid for who were ‘unavailable’ e.g. Daniel Wakra was guiding others when he should have been with us, and I spent most of the very trip frustrated. The leaders did help try me to bird alone where possible which I really appreciated and I did see a lot more birds than the general group – but overall I was bitterly disappointed with the whole experience. I actually feel really sorry for the leaders in a situation like this. Cheers Rob Morris Rob Morris
Brisbane, Australia
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Dear Rob and Birding-aussers, I have never been to PNG—in fact actually fear I may no longer be up to it at 75–, and I have no knowledge of this actual tour, but I still feel that you have maybe gone on this tour with somewhat unreasonable expectations. I myself have during these last years been on one or two birding tours every year (i.a. with Rockjumpers to Madagascar and Namibia-Botswana), and I am one of the older people that Rob had so much troubles with. I have always had bad eyesight, and am now also hard of hearing, and the days are probably not far ahead when I have to pass on the steepest and most slippery slopes. I love nature and birds, but I am at best a moderate birder and am much dependent on leader and participants to show me the birds I never would have found on my own. I am not a ‘ticker’ though, although I do keep a life list (around 4000), and I love to watch also the commoner birds again and again. So in many respects I am one of the elderly people, that according to Rob should never come on such trips, as they are in the way and disturb the real birders. I beg to differ! I think that in fact most birding company trips are primarily meant for people like me, who need the assistance in logistics, bird spotting and bird identification, and who have much more problems in organizing such trips on their own—often considerably cheaper. As these trips are expensive, it is no wonder that many of the participants are elderly (although this changes a lot from trip to trip: last year in Argentina I was the youngest participant, this year in Ecuador by far the oldest (both VENT trips)). The ornithological knowledge of the participants is indeed quite variable, although most have traveled extensively on similar trips, and many are much better birders than I am. Also, some participants may be not in the best of mobility; again, in Argentina we had regularly to assist an 80-year old both to get around, and to find the birds—he had had many eye operations—, but the man derived great pleasure of the birds he saw and clearly had a most satisfactory trip.. And this year an elderly lady skipped the day we visited Angel Paz and his steep forest paths towards the Cock-of-the -Rock display area, but she greatly enjoyed the other days.
Going on a trip with 10-12 other people always means one has to adapt to a certain degree. Each group has usually at least one person to whom one has difficulties adapting: incessant talkers, people who always are first at the telescope and show little empathy for the others, people who never help other find the birds, people who clearly are on the wrong trip, etc. These problems arise independently of the quality of the birding knowledge of these participants: the one time one participant had to be let go, because he very clearly was unfit to be in a group, the person concerned had the sharpest eyes and best spotting abilities of anybody I have met on these trips
I fully grant that the normal birding trips, with Rockjumpers as well as with other companies, will often feel frustrating and limiting for the best birders, but for them the solution, if they are unable to organize their trips themselves, must be to use the possibility of customized tours, while the ‘normal’ birding trips are primarily for people like me: run-of-the-mill birders, who through these trips and their leaders get the chance to see many more birds, and those also much better, than they ever would be able to see on their own. My two Ruckjumper trips were a great pleasure, and I won’t hesitate to go out with them again.
Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum 9037 Tromsø, Norway wim.vader@uit.no
________________________________________ Van: birding-aus-bounces@lists.vicnet.net.au [birding-aus-bounces@lists.vicnet.net.au] namens robert morris [robert_p_morris@hotmail.com] Verzonden: zondag 1 januari 2012 10:01 Aan: birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au; birding aus Onderwerp: [Birding-Aus] Feedback on Rockjumpers PNG birding Tour July-August 2011 – Between a rock and a hard place so think before you jump!
This is the feedback I gave to Rockjumpers about a tour I went on to PNG in August 2011. If you are a serious birder, I would not recommend travelling on their tour with 9 or 10 others. be warned or at least prepared…. I did not receive an evaluation form before departing from the leaders – and I am happy to give constructive feedback. It won’t be pretty but the leaders will be perfectly aware of all the major issues: 1. the people on the tour were too old, unfit and had virtually no birding skills or knowledge2. because of 1 they: a) needed long rests ( I would go and bird alone most days in the breaks of up to 4 hours!). b) were more interested in eating than birding. c) could not walk far and struggled to walk up hill. Some trails were not even attempted. d) took a huge amount of time to see the birds. This was mainly because there was 1 scope between the 10 people and most had poor eye-sight. e) there were 12-14 pe ople going down narrow trails looking for shy birds which is a joke. I left the group to bird independently at every opportunity. f) they made night birding a complete nightmare and I felt guilty for continuously raising the issue. I actually had to be left alone in remote locations in PNG jungles for many hours on end to see difficult species – such as Papuan hawk Owl. I did not in any way dislike the group or any individuals – but birding wise it ranged from a joke to a nightmare. These trips are NOT for real birders. They are for OLD people who are generally happy to spend 1 second looking down a telescope to tick something. If they glimpse a bird, a shadow etc. most of them count what they are told they’ve seen. I had my own Leica 77 for the whole trip and I was completely independent from the queue at one leader’s scope (the other leader rarely took his because it wasn’t working properly). Add to the above the amount of time we stood around waiting for buses to show up because the agent didn’t have control of what was going on (we lost many, many hours of birding time), descriptions in the published itineraries which are at best ‘economical with the truth’ and good local bird guides that Rockjumpers booked and paid for who were ‘unavailable’ e.g. Daniel Wakra was guiding others when he should have been with us, and I spent most of the very trip frustrated. The leaders did help try me to bird alone where possible which I really appreciated and I did see a lot more birds than the general group – but overall I was bitterly disappointed with the whole experience. I actually feel really sorry for the leaders in a situation like this. Cheers Rob Morris Rob Morris
Brisbane, Australia
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