Bangalore Birding - Tariffs

The client will be provided with an experienced guide who knows the locations well and is able to communicate in excellent english.

The guide will do his best to ensure that the birding trip is a satisfying experience.

The daily guide fee will vary depending on which guide is available for your dates. Please contact us for more details.

Transport charges will be extra at Rs 12 per kilometer. Vehicle of choice will be an SUV equipped with four wheel drive in order to minimize walking in areas with bad roads.

You will be picked up at a venue of your choice in Bangalore and dropped back at the end of the outing. Depending on the species you would like to view, we will suggest locations and use the appropriate vehicle for the trip so that walking will be minimised.

Personal service, and getting to know each of our guests and their individual needs and interests is at the heart of what we do. We want to make sure you get the very most out of your experience.

Bangalore Birding - Testimonials

I met up with Bopanna while on a business trip to Bangalore. I had rather limited time and so was looking to find someone who knew the local area and its birds well to make the most of the opportunity. The best birding places are rarely easy to find and this seemed especially so in India with many of the maps and descriptions I found online being very vague. Bopanna responded very promptly to my initial enquiries and sent me thorough information about the kinds of birds we’d be likely to find given the time of year and the habitats we’d be able to visit in the time. I have hired a few guides in various countries and as a sceptical birder who likes to be sure about what he’s looking at, Bopanna was the perfect guide. He knows the bird calls very well but was always honest and diligent when making an identification – I have encountered guides in the past who feel obliged to tell you at first glance what something is, but Bopanna was very measured and happy to take a little more time when we found something unusual. Bopanna picked me up at 5.30 am on the Saturday and we spent two very long days birding seeing 130 species in total. Bopanna was excellent company and very conscientious of the concerns I had about needing to be careful with food and drink. We did not have time to travel as far as the Western Ghats national park, but managed to visit a great variety of habitats including wetlands, farmlands, dry scrublands and forests, seeing practically every species that one might hope to find and quite a few specialities too like the yellow-crowned woodpecker, painted spurfowl and yellow-throated bulbul, along with a few others that aren’t seen so often. It was my first birding trip to India, but I had a great time and would recommend that anyone looking for a guide get in touch with Bopanna – I certainly will be when I next return. If you would like to get in touch with me directly then please just ask Bopanna for me email address and I’ll be happy to share my thoughts.

Ed Champness - United Kingdom

 

I found myself with a free day after attending a conference in Bangalore. As a first-time visitor to India, I wanted an experienced local birding guide. At very short notice, Bopanna organised a full-day tour that made us feel lucky to have found him. He is an excellent organiser and communicator who picked us up and dropped us off right on time. While showing consideration for a non-birding colleague who joined us, Bopanna proved his expertise by guiding us to more than 80 species, including three endemics, amid some wonderful scenery. I appreciated the care he took with a couple of the more tricky identifications — only 'bluffers' are immediately certain of every bird — which included photographs for reference. Bopanna was also excellent company, with interests outside birding that ensured both birder and non-birder enjoyed a memorable day of local sights and insights. If I ever find myself back in southern India, I intend to arrange another, longer trip with Bopanna.

John Watson, The Age - Australia

 

I had an excellent days birding with Bopanna. He has fantastic knowledge of both the birds and and where to find them. As someone visiting from the uk it was also great to see another side of India. In total 83 species in 12 really excellent hours. I would recommend without hesitation.

Matthew Hewitt - United Kingdom

 

I took another business trip to Bangalore in late Feb/early March 2011, and managed to get three days to go birding again with Bopanna in the Western Ghats foothills. We stayed at a wonderful birding lodge in a shade-grown coffee plantation. This was a fantastic location with a huge number of species, and variety of bird life. In two morning's walks, we picked up around 120 species, including a number of endemics, and treats such as Malabar Hornbill, Crimson-fronted Barbet, and many Malabar Parakeets. We also had staggering views of Sri-Lankan Frogmouth at a nearby location. The sound of Elephants at night crashing through the bamboo in the forest across the river, the sky at night, and the away-from-it-all feel were the perfect foil to busy Bangalore business! Bopanna was the perfect guide and host again, with tremendous knowledge and enthusiasm, and ensured that I had an excellent time, with many new birds also, on the trip to and from Bangalore. I can't wait to get back, and share some more wonderful wildlife and scenery with Bopanna, whom I cannot recommend strongly enough to make your Southern Indian birding time very productive and most enjoyable.

Simon Lane - Chatham, NJ, USA

 

Thanks to you Bopanna for a great trip! It was the highlight of our India trip. The western ghats birding was very relaxing and Gillian and I really enjoyed seeing the elephants and the birds. Hope to see you again.

Björn & Gillian - Norway