On our flight over to Nimbokrang after the Arfak Mountains, Stephan and Ross prepped Claudia and myself by basically saying how miserable Nimbokrang would be. Apparently the birding is done while walking along muddy, swampy trails that are infested with an abundance of malaria-carrying mosquitoes and weather consisting of extreme heat and 100% humidity. Hell … Continue reading Nimbokrang – West Papua – Chasing Dinosaurs
Java is the most populated of the islands in the Indonesian archipelago, not surprising since the capitol of Jakarta is located there. The original itinerary that Ross designed did not include Java but because we had a few extra days, we were able to add a few extra islands, one of which being Java where … Continue reading East Java – Indonesia – Would You Like Chips With Your Dip?
Alor. Allure. Two words that sound the same and in all honesty, probably don't have all that different meanings. Alor is a pretty alluring place if you want to see some island-endemic subspecies of birds. One might be the name of an island and another describe a feeling of charm or appeal but, island-endemics in … Continue reading Alor – Indonesia – Alluring Alor
The jungle town of Mitu, a small remote settlement in Amazonian Colombia found along the Vaupes River is only accessible by plane or boat. International tourists rarely (if ever) come here and when they do, ALL of whom I suspect are birders, they must pay the indigenous people an entrance fee to walk the trails. … Continue reading Mitu, Colombia – Part 1 – May 6-11th, 2017
With a break from school in March, Ross immediately decided he wanted to spend this uniquely long amount of time off (~4 weeks) visiting a mega diverse country full of extremely threatened birds. A place where almost every birding report paints a sad picture and usually reads something like "...go now because pretty soon there will be no forest left … Continue reading The start of our trip – Northeast Brazil – March 2-6, 2017
With incredible natural beauty, top resorts, golf courses, and beaches, it’s no surprise that the Dominican Republic is the most visited tourist destination in the Caribbean. But all of that tourist charm isn’t what drove Ross and I to spend more time in the Dominican Republic than any of our previous islands—it was the birds. … Continue reading The Caribbean – Our Dominican Republic Adventure – March 15-20, 2016
Peru is one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet and is extremely rich in bird diversity, boasting an impressive 1,808 species of birds, the third most species of any country in the world! The country is so rich in bird diversity that new species and subspecies are still being discovered! Peru has such … Continue reading Part I of Peru – Cuzco and Machu Picchu – May 16-19, 2015
After a very bizarre day entering La Paz, (which you can read about here) Ross and I slept in and took advantage of the complimentary breakfast our hotel offered before heading out for a day of birding. Our plan for the day was to head to nearby Cotapata along the Coicio Road, AKA “road to … Continue reading The last of Bolivia –
Let me tell you a story about this one time in Bolivia... (Click here and here for the previous two segments of our trip!) We left Cochabamba on May 10 and headed to a very remote area of Bolivia, the small town of Inquisivi, using nothing but Bolivian public transportation. Our reason for visiting such … Continue reading Boliva Part III – That time we got stuck in a riot – May 10-11, 2015
It has been 66 days since we left Hawaii. In that time we have been all over Southeast Asia living the nomadic lifestyle. While being in a foreign country is an awesome experience, one I highly recommend, it’s also a wonderful feeling to be back in your home country with the culture you know and … Continue reading Finally in America!
