Egypt

Birds & History

26 November to 7 December 2010

Leaders: Richard Coomber and local guides

Maximum of 14 clients.

Cost: £2,899 single room supplement £290

Our Land of the Pharaohs tour has been designed with just the right combination of bird watching and sightseeing. We will visit all the key habitats to find birds of the deserts, wetlands and marine and coastal environments. Given Egypt's strategic location, it is one of the best places to see a number of species found nowhere else in the Western Palearctic, such as Senegal Thick-knee, Nile Valley Sunbird, Senegal Coucal and Kittlitz's Sandplover. We will watch birds while exploring Egypt's world famous antiquities, which have inspired and awed man through the ages. The Ancient Egyptians were among the world's first natural historians and vividly documented the wildlife of their times on the walls of tombs and temples. No other country allows us the opportunity to bird watch in the past, as over 75 species of birds have been identified from the wall paintings and countless other artefacts. The life of Egypt will be well observed - from the modern skyscrapers of Cairo to the lowly mud-walled villages of the Nile. We will spend four nights on a Nile cruise, the ideal way to sightsee and bird watch Upper Egypt, as at this time of year the Nile will be teeming with wintering waterbirds and the weather should be superb. This will be Ornitholidays' eighth tour to Egypt.