This page shows the travel pages. For me a trip is a trip to an area where I have taken a lot of pictures. But it can also be pictures I have taken around my house, and everything in between.
With the link Trips you will return to the top of this list. and with the link nature you will go to the master (not always updated) database.
| Title | Seagulls in the Braakman and Oostvaardersplassen (Trip species) |
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| In the Dutch heat we went to Zeeuws-Vlaanderen to find the black-headed gulls. That worked wonderfully easily, the seagulls are on the newly constructed breeding island. The islands attract black-headed gulls and terns, but the black-headed gulls return first from the south. So they still have a preferred choice. After a night we go to the Braakman, a beautiful area to find insects and plants in addition to birds. On Sunday we had an excursion with Arjen Dwarshuis in the Oostvaardersplassen. He showed me, among other things, the Caspian gulls. |
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| Period: | 2026-06-26 to 2026-06-28 |
| Title | Extramadura (Trip species) |
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| Extramadura is a well-known bird area in Spain, but I have never been there. So a week with BirdingBreaks to Spain with a fairly large group of 13 people and two guides. The area has a number of special species such as the Blue Magpie and the Spanish Imperial Eagle. The area is relatively sparsely populated, leaving plenty of room for parks. We have only seen many of the special species from a great distance, but we did see them! |
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| Period: | 2026-04-06 to 2026-04-13 |
| Title | Kenia en Tanzania (Trip species) |
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| The plan to go to Madagascar has been postponed for a year. Instead, we travel for three weeks with a guide through southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. The locations are very beautiful, and often close to the parks. In Tanzania we spend a lot of time in the parks, where nature is given free rein. Much of the land around the parks has been allocated to the Masai. As tourists we are allowed to be there, but there are many rules. During the trip I took photos of almost 250 species, 100 of which were new. | |
| Period: | 2025-11-01 to 2025-11-25 |
| Title | Gambia (Trip species) |
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| From mid-February I went to the warmth of Gambia for 4 weeks. The trip was organized by Senegambia Birding. The organization is special because they only work with local people, led by an enthusiastic Belgian. They show their guests nature and experience the culture. 9 languages ​​are spoken in Gambia, and in addition, the Muslim population learns a lot from their religion. That makes education difficult. There is little infrastructure: almost all roads are dirt roads, there is no garbage collection service, there is no post, there is very little work. The average income per inhabitant is 100x lower than in the Netherlands. That makes the trip special, and also affordable. The English of the guides is also good, I can say from experience. Their emphasis is photography, exactly what I wanted. I saw 240 different bird species, of which 139 were new to me. 240 new species is a lot in such a small area as Gambia. | |
| Period: | 2025-02-17 to 2025-03-17 |
| Title | Oman (Trip species) |
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| At the end of January I went to Oman with BirdingBreaks. Their description is: "Beautiful deserts, a long coastline with an interesting pelagic avifauna but also green mountains and oases; Oman has exceptionally different landscape types. Bird species from three continents come together here. In the north you will find Asian species, while in the foothills of the Dhofar Mountains in the south, the African avifauna is more prominent." Oman is a country with relatively rich Omanis and especially Indians who do the work for them. The wealth is partly invisible. The food, for example, is very cheap. There are fairly good roads everywhere, although the hinterland is simply poor. | |
| Period: | 2025-01-28 to 2025-02-07 |
| Title | Costa Rica in the rain (Trip species) |
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| I went to Costa Rica in October/November 2024 with a BirdingBreaks photo trip. That is in Central America, north of Panama. It is one of the countries with the most bird species, more than 900. I was able to photograph about 200 of them. The trip was at the end of the rainy season, but this year was the wettest November in the 140 years that they have been keeping track. The first and last week it rained so much that some trips had to be cancelled. The group was nice and relaxed, not stressed about the number of species seen. After the group trip I had booked another 10 days, but it was wet and cold, which was a shame. It is clear that I have to go back again. | |
| Period: | 2024-11-10 to 2024-12-05 |
| Title | Morocco: from the Atlas to the coast by Agadir (Trip species) |
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| I have often looked at the BirdingBreaks website, but finally I am going with a BirdingBreaks group to the south of Morocco. From Marrakech we will go over the Atlas Mountains to the famous sand dunes in the desert, and finally to the coast near Agadir. I am beginning to understand the difference between a birdwatcher and a bird photographer. The former wants to see as many bird species in the scope in as little time as possible, and the bird photographer wants nice photos: with the sun at your back and not too far away. | |
| Period: | 2024-10-07 to 2024-10-17 |
| Title | Safari South-Afrika 2024 (Trip species) |
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| We did a tour along safari parks. A safari park is a hotel, lodge or tented camp in or next to a park where you can see the 'Big-5 game': lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos and hippos. 'Game' is a designation for wild animals that could hunt, 'Big-5' because they are the 5 species that can probably kill the hunter. Of course I also looked at the birds. We also went out with a bird guide for a few days. In total we saw 34 species of mammals and 191 species of birds. From elephant to squirrel, and from house sparrow to ostrich. | |
| Period: | 2024-06-24 to 2024-07-23 |
| Title | Ebro Valley and Pyrenees birding tour (Trip species) |
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| We went on a SNP birding trip to Northern Spain in the spring of 2024. The trip took us along the wetlands of the Ebro Delta, the steppes of the Ebro Valley in the Monegros, the gorges and vulture rocks of the Sierra de Guara and the high mountains. In the higher valleys of the Pyrenees there was too much snow for a jeep tour, but we went high enough to see marmots. | |
| Period: | 2024-04-21 to 2024-05-01 |
| Title | Birding near Orlando, Florida (Trip species) |
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| After visiting the SHARE conference in Orlando, I stayed in Orlando for a few days to explore the area. I had been there many times before, but with a guide I saw new areas and new species. Florida is a great holiday in the winter: nice weather without the heat of summer. And the birds and alligators think so too. | |
| Period: | 2024-03-07 to 2024-03-12 |
| Title | Waarneming.nl (Trip species) |
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| On the waarneming.nl site I have collected many photos over the years. My oldest observations are from 2016. I have mainly entered other animals and plants because waarneming.nl is an ideal place to identify species. There have always been many active moderators who check the species and correct them where necessary. But with the automatic species recognition that is now available on both the web and phones, it is even better. The app knows almost all species in Europe. The collector in me thinks that is great. | |
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