Royle Safaris

Diving & Snorkeling Tour Movie Playlist – on Our YouTube Channel

admin — Sat, 25 May 2013 07:00:48 +0000

With over two thirds of the Earth’s surface covered in water most of the planets wildlife lives in the various seas and oceans that dominate the planet. So at Royle Safaris our wildlife watching holidays and tours do not stop with the terrestrial ecosystems of grasslands, rainforests and woodlands. We have a great range of the Diving & Snorkelling Tours that explore all of the world’s oceans and especially the coral reefs. We are specialises in Scuba Diving Tours and also Snorkelling Holidays and have itineraries that include travelling to the Galapagos Islands, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, India and Mozambique. We have a some great dive tour leaders who are experts in finding turtles, sharks and other marquee marine species. To help highlight some of the fantastic species that we aim to find and swim with on any of our Diving & Snorkelling Tours we have created a playlist of videos taken on our diving & snorkelling tours all over the world. So click on the below link to view manta rays, sharks, turtles, snapper, jacks, sea snakes and many other marine wildlife seen in our Diving & Snorkelling Tour Movie YouTube Channel.

Scuba Diving & Snorkeling Marine Wildlife Holidays

So if you like the look of the marine wildlife videos that we have available on our YouTube Channel you may be interested to view our range of Scuba Diving Holidays and Snorkelling Tours that we have to offer. Alternatively you can of course just Contact Us for more information and we will be more than happy to help you find your ideal reptile watching tour anywhere in the world.

Brazil Wildlife Holiday Movies Playlist – on Our YouTube Channel

admin — Fri, 24 May 2013 07:00:48 +0000

Few countries evoke such strong and provocative images of wilderness, wild and exotic wildlife than Brazil. Most of this is due to the fact that the mighty Amazon Rainforest and Amazon River dominate most of Brazil, but the wildlife watching is not just confined to the Amazon. In fact the majority of our Brazil Wildlife Watching Holidays are focused around the Pantanal. This is the world’s largest wetland system and it is in fact the size of France and with 97% of the Pantanal still covered in its original vegetation it is also a haven for wildlife. We travel to the Pantanal on most of our Brazil Wildlife Tours because it is without a shadow of a doubt the best place in the world to see jaguars. We are currently (from 2011-2013) averaging 2 jaguar sightings per day in the north of the Pantanal. We also have a great track record (100%) for spotting giant otters, giant anteaters, tapirs and many other mammals as well as hundreds of birds. Including toco toucans and the stunning hyacinth macaw.

Brazil Wildlife Watching holidays and Tours of the Amazon & Pantanal

Over the years we have specialised in Pantanal Wildlife Tours particularly Jaguar Watching Safaris and we accordingly have a great range of tours focusing on Jaguars and the Pantanal, but we also have an great range of wildlife tours to Brazil that visit the Amazon, Atlantic Rainforest, Cerrado (Brazilian grasslands and very good for maned wolves, giant anteaters and other grassland species) as well as green anacondas in Bonita, here you can swim with truly massive anacondas. All in all we at Royle Safaris fully recommend visiting Brazil with us for wildlife, there is a such a mind blowing diversity of wildlife here from birding to mammals and reptiles to plants, whatever your area of interest we are sure that our range of Brazilian Wildlife Holidays will have the one that you are looking for.

To help us show off the very best that Brazil and our Brazilian wildlife watching holidays has to offer we have set up a Brazil Wildlife Holiday Video Playlist on our YouTube Channel. Please watch our jaguar watching videos and Amazon river cruise tour movies and if you feel like you would like to join us in Brazil then you can find out more about our range of holidays by looking at our Brazil Wildlife Holiday webpage. Of course for more information you are free to Contact Us for more information and we will be more than happy to help you find your ideal Brazilian wildlife watching tour for jaguars, harpy eagles, river dolphins, maned wolves or any other species.

Birding Holiday Movies Plyalist – on Our YouTube Channel

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 07:00:13 +0000

Bird watching or Birding is one of the world’s most popular past times. However there is often more to just sitting with a pair of binoculars when it comes to most birders. In recent years birding has become competitive and incredibly addictive. Some of the very first explorers and pioneers to many of the locations that we now seem so common place for wildlife watching were discovered and realised by birders and many still continue to explore the lesser visited parts of the planet as they search for the rarer and rarer species.

Bird Watching Movies from our Birding Holidays and Bird Watching Tours

Birds are the most commonly seen, easily seen and easily recognisable of all vertebrates and offer some of the best wildlife watching in the world. We see and hear them every day and with around 10,000 known species living everywhere from Antarctica to the densest tropical rainforests and we can tailor your preferred bird watching tour to anywhere you desire. With the group of professional birding guides that we have available to us we are able to produce world class birding tours to any bird watching location in the world.

Whilst more of a mammal watching specialist, Royle Safaris does have a great range of Birding Holidays and Bird Watching Tours. All of our birding holidays are guided by professional and well known bird watching guides and we have uploaded some of our greatest Birding Videos and Bird Watching Movies to our YouTube Channel and our Birding Tour Movie. We hope that you like them and that they whet your appetite for our Birding Tours and if you would like further information on our range of Bird Watching Holidays you are free to look at our selection on our website that we have to offer by clicking the prior link. Alternatively you can of course just Contact Us for more information and we will be more than happy to help you find your ideal reptile watching tour anywhere in the world.

Just Wolverines Tours 2013 – 100% Successful

admin — Wed, 22 May 2013 07:00:24 +0000

Wolverines are one of the top animals for seasoned wildlife watchers who have travelled the world and experienced everything that the natural world has to offer. Up until around 5 years ago or so the idea of seeing a wild wolverine was just a dream. However something in Finland was about to change all of that; Finland still has a hunting season for bears, wolves, moose and other animals and as a result there are many ‘feeding stations’ around the Finland – Russian border. These were originally set up by the private land owners to attract bears to the site so that hunters can shot them. That all changed when one of these ‘feeding stations’ started getting a ‘baby bear’ in the words of the owner, who had no idea what it was. That was until a Finnish wildlife photographer arrived to take pictures of the bears.

This particular ‘feeding station’ was owned by a man who was not too interested in killing the bears and other wildlife (it was literally a means to an end) however once a couple of wildlife photographers arrived to take pictures, he realised that the future lay with wildlife watchers and not hunters. Not only did they pay the same but more importantly they kept the animals alive and therefore maintained the populations for a sustainable and long-term income. This is a very practical way of viewing this kind of tourism but it just about the only way to make sure that any species has a long-term future in this modern and monetary world that we live in now.

Wolverine Watching & Photography Tours

It was whilst this Finnish wildlife photographer was here that he saw the ‘baby bear’ arrive and realised immediately that this was a wolverine and asked the owner if he sees these often; ‘nearly every day’ was the reply! This sparked the very first Wolverine Watching Holidays and Wolverine Photography Tours. From this day on we have had wolverines visiting the small private feeding station nearly every day, especially during the winter when the bears (who outcompete wolverines) are hibernating; and this has lead us to have some excellent wolverine experiences. Non more so that this year (2013), we have had three private tours head out during April and early May and have seen wolverines and all of the guests got photographs of wolverines, maintaining our 100% track record for wolverines on our Just Wolverines Tour.

Like most places in the Northern Hemisphere this year, Spring has arrived a little later than usual. This meant that some of the birds we expected to see had not arrived or where not in breeding mode during the first couple of tours (that departed in April) but by the end of the latest tour, the birds were just as cooperative as the wolverines.

Here are a few things that the guests had to say about these tours:

Mr. John Whittles (17^th April – 21^st April 2013) – ‘I did see wolverine and took some reasonable photographs so it was a success…The holiday did live up to my expectations’

Andy Skillen (29^th April – 3^rd May 2013) – ‘I had a really good time: Esa is of course an excellent guide and splendid company…Great idea for a company you have there Martin – exactly the type of outfit I have been seeking for over 20 years!’

Christine Cheney (7^th May – 11^th May 2013) – ‘…I had an amazing time on the holiday and Esa was an exceptional guide…we saw 5 individuals (wolverines) including 3 a once…So a great trip – lots of birds including a pair of osprey. Thanks for organising it.’

So if you would like to join a future tour to Finland and be one of the few people to see wild wolverines close up, you are free to book direct on our Wolverine Watching Tour or contact us for more information. To our knowledge this is the only place in the world that has any realistic chance of seeing a wild wolverine and with over 5 years of tours coming here there is a 100% success record with wolverine sightings (when we have spent a minimum of 2 nights in the pro-photography hides and when we have travelled in Winter or early Spring); so we are confident when we say that this will probably provide anyone interested with the best chance of seeing and photographing a wild wolverine.

Big Cat Safari Holidays – Movie Playlist on Our YouTube Channel

admin — Tue, 21 May 2013 07:00:13 +0000

Big cats are one of the most charismatic group of animals in the world, since the birth of wildlife travel the big cats of Africa have been one of the biggest draw cards in the world of safari holidays. Of course Royle Safaris has a great range of wildlife watching holidays throughout East and Southern Africa, all of which offer great chances of seeing majestic lions, elusive leopards and elegant cheetahs. Another big cat is the major reason for wildlife travel to India and that big cat is of course the tiger. Royle Safaris specialises in Big Cat Watching Tours and we have a huge range of Tiger Safaris all over India as well as pioneering tiger holidays to Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and even Russia (where we have a good track record of spotting wild Siberian tigers here). However our Big Cat Safaris do not stop there as we have also developed jaguar watching holidays to the Brazilian Pantanal (where we currently average 2 jaguar sightings per day) as well as pioneering snow leopard tours to the Indian Himalayas (where we have a 70% past success rate). We also have great locations for puma and clouded leopards (both the mainland and Sunda species of clouded leopards), so if you interested in big cats then you should check out our range of Big Cat Watching Tours or look at our new Big Cat Safari Movie playlist on our YouTube Channel.

Watch our Big Cat Safari Movies

We have included videos of tigers, lions, jaguars and many other species of big and small cats that we have seen on our previous big cat watching holidays all over the world. We want to showcase the range of activities that we participate in when it comes to tracking down and finding big cats in the wild. Whether from jeep, elephant back, canoe, boat, horseback or on foot we have all angles covered. It is particularly thrilling to track big cats on foot and it is possible to track tigers on foot in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Russia as well as tracking jaguars in Brazil and of course walking to find smaller cat species on all 5 continents that they live on (excluding Australia & Antarctica).

Some of the smaller cat species that we have good past success with our ocelots, oncillas, bobcats, jungle cats, Iberian lynx, fishing cats, rusty-spotted cats, black-footed cats, servals, jaguarondis, caracals, leopard cats and fishing cats and we also have good locations to try for Geoffrey’s cats, flat-headed cats, Iriomote cats, marbled cats and sand cats. If you would like to try for any of these small cats or any other species of cat in the world then just Contact Us for more information and we will be more than happy to help you find your ideal big cat watching tour or small cat tracking tour anywhere in the world.

Siberian Tiger Tour February 2014 (2 Spaces Left) – Book Now for a Spot!

admin — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:53:09 +0000

For many years the idea of going anywhere and seeing a wild Siberian tiger on a Siberian Tiger Tracking Holiday was just a fantasy. It was something that film makers staking out likely locations for weeks and weeks (sometimes months) on end would do to just get a couple of sightings. The only stories of wild Siberian tigers can from the occasional local fur trapper who would see a fleeting glimpse of one in the forested shadows off in the distance. However in the last couple of years a remote national reserve deep in the district of Amur has become the place to go and visit to have any chance of seeing a wild Siberian tiger. This reserve is Durminskoye and Royle Safaris is pioneering tours here in order to track Siberian tigers on foot and hopefully coming face to face with a big cat that was on the brink of extinction not that long ago.

Siberian tiger tracking in Russia and have a great chance of spotting wild Siberian tigers with Royle Safaris on our Russian tiger watching holidays

For this Siberian Tiger Watching Holiday we travel to Durminskoye during the winter. This is one the best time of year as the tracks of the tigers are left in the snow for longer and the tigers’ movements are easier to predict. This coupled with the fact that we will have the expert help of Alexander Batalov (who is in charge of the reserve and is a man who has probably seen more wild Siberian tigers than anyone else in the world).
Our next Siberian Tiger Watching Tour is due to run on the 7th February 2014 and we already have people booked on this tour. We are now looking to fill this tour and make sure that the tour heads out with a full group. The group will be 5-6 people maximum with our own Royle Safaris big cat expert, Alexander and a translator. This is the team that we use when heading to Russia in search of this incredible big cat. So if you would like to join this tour and claim one of the last spots on this Siberian Tiger Holiday then you can click the previous link and have a closer look at the itinerary or contact us for more information. On our Siberian Tiger Winter Tour you can book direct by clicking the BOOK button. We advise to be quick as there is only a short window for tracking Siberian tigers in the winter, so we will probably not run this tour again until 2015. We also expect this tour to fill up quickly as Siberian tigers are so popular and this is just about the only tour that can specialises in tracking wild Siberian Tigers. We also have a previous success rate of around 50-75% in finding the resident male tiger with a 10 day or longer stay in Durminskoye Reserve. This tour allocates 11 full days in the reserve to track down Russia’s Siberian tigers.

New Facebook Gallery – Wild Nepal & Bardia Tour October 2011

admin — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:04:37 +0000

Like us on Facebook and view our trip galleries for all of our past and recent tours as well as some general pictures of wildlife taken on our great range of Wildlife Tours and Safari Holidays that we run all over the world. We upload many different pictures and post up to date statuses from all of our Wildlife Watching Holidays so keep on checking in on us on Facebook regularly and add us as a friend. By doing this you will be able to keep up to date with all of our latest offers and begin to feel like you were on the tour with us as we upload the best pictures and videos from all of our Wildlife Tours. Follow this link (Nepal Jungle Safaris of Chitwan and Nepal) and see the our gallery showcasing our best pictures and sightings from this Nepal Tiger Watching Holiday to both incredible Terai region national parks, Chitwan and then Bardia in October 2011. We saw an incredible 27 different rhinos as well as a further 30 different mammal species and over 200 species of birds. We also enjoyed some great tracking in one of the few places where you are able to track tigers on foot.

Chitwan Jungle safari holiday

So please have a browse of this gallery and if you like the looks of this Nepal Jungle Safaris and Nepal Mammal Watching Holidays then please Contact Us for more information and we will be more than happy to help.

Maned Wolf Watching Tour of Brazil

admin — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:05:32 +0000

Maned wolf safari of Emas National Park in Brazil

Brazil is a vast country and full of wildlife and incredible diversity, it is not surprising a very popular wildlife watching destination but whilst most people visit the Amazon or the Pantanal in search of jaguars, tapirs, giant otters, primates and the abundance of birds found in these two amazing ecosystems. But there is more to Wildlife Watching Holidays in Brazil than the Amazon and Pantanal. This Mammal Watching Tour specializes in the arid cerrado grasslands of Central Brazil, here you have a great chance of spotting the long-legged and bizarre looking maned wolf. They are seen here more often than anywhere else and we have a week of searching for them in the grasslands of Emas National Park, but alongside this we also visit a very special monastery where the monks have been leaving food out for the ‘local dogs’ for decades, only to find out that the ‘dogs’ that were visiting every night were in fact the shy and elusive maned wolves. So during this Brazil Wildlife Holiday we have a great chance (and past success) in spotted wild maned wolves in the grassland as well as being able to get very close encounters and photographs of wild maned wolves as they come into the monastery to feed on left overs. We have a great range of Mammal Watching Holidays in Brazil and have had great past success in spotting the Brazilian Big Five.

Mammal Watching in Brazil

The Big Five of Brazil are the Jaguar, Giant Otter, Giant Anteater, Brazilian Tapir and of course the Maned Wolf and whilst the first four are very easy to see on our popular Pantanal Exploration tour the only place were we have any success with the maned wolves is in Emas National Park, these can be combined so please inquire about this option if it interests you.

The maned wolf is prominent in the local mythology of the cerrado,in a very popular tale the cry of the Maned Wolf at night is believed to foretell of changes in the weather and its gaze is said to be able to kill a chicken. These are 2of the myths that shroud South America’s largest and most distinctive species of canid. Although considered endangered throughout its range, it remains one of the least studied of the wild dogs and the only reliable place where they are seen in any numbers is the wonderful grassland park of Emas. They are a very distinctive species and are so named for their patch of long black erectile hairs across the shoulders and for its large wolf-like size. But it is not a true wolf, and mostly resembles in general form and colouring a long-legged Red Fox. The tail is relatively short, the ears are erect, and the coat is softer in texture than that of many canids and lacks under fur. The long legs are the most noticable feature and it has been suggested that its long legs are an adaptation for fast running, but their loping gait is not conjunctive to swift runners, and their long legs are most likely an adaptation to tall grassland habitats. All of these features and the fact that they mostly east fruit means they are very unusual and a delight to see in the wild.

After we have spent many years traveling around Brazil and finding so many top destinations for wildlife we are confident of being able to showcase maned wolves as well as many of the best mammal and birds of Brazil. So please feel free to click on any of the links in this text and you will be able to review our Maned Wolf Watching Holiday. But if our standard itinerary does not suit your requirements then we can of course amend this and change the locations, duration of stay and focus of the tour to suit any of our wishes. Including a very popular extension that visits the most famous jaguar watching location in the world and the Pantanal.

All of this means that Royle Safaris is possible to offer this fantastic range of wildlife watching in Brazil and the rest of the South American and we have one of the greatest ranges of wildlife tours in Brazil, so we are sure to have the Mammal Watching Holidays to suit any budget. So if you need any further information on our range of Brazil Wildlife Watching Tours or Maned Wolf Safaris then click on any of the link on this page of Contact Us for more information and we will be more than happy to help

Red Fox Spotting on Snow Leopard Trekking Holiday

admin — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:44:31 +0000

Whilst on our recent Snow Leopard Trekking Holidays of Ladakh in North West India, we caught footage of a red fox as its prowled through our camp in search of any scraps of food left out. In the winter in the Himalayas there is not much food available for carnivores and red foxes are very adaptable here and they are very commonly seen around the camp. But it is much more than just red foxes that we have luck in finding, during the past few years we have managed to see many different snow leopards on our Snow Leopard Watching Tours. With an impressive 70% success rate in spotting snow leopards we are among the best in the business. In fact our last two Snow Leopard Tours we have found 8 individuals including a mother and 2 cubs on our most recent tour (February 2013). So please watch the video and visit our Snow Leopard Tour webpage and find out more information about these trips.

If you would like more information on our Wildlife Holidays and Snow Leopard Trekking Tour then please review our website to see our fill range of wildlife watching tours or Contact Us

Mountain Gorilla Twins

admin — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 11:53:58 +0000

With only gorilla birth in 1000 resulting in twins it is an incredibly rare sight, only 2 cases have been recorded in nearly 50 years of study. But the Hirwa gorilla group of Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park currently has a pair of baby twins. Watch the video on the below link or visit our Flickr account, and come face to face with two of the rarest little beauties in the world. During our recent Primate Watching Holiday to Rwanda we spotted these twins in the deep embrace of their mother. This is a rare sight and currently they are the only mountain gorilla twins known. We have more videos of these twins, from this Gorilla Tracking Tour, that we will be upload over the next few days, so please keep on reviewing this news feed and our Flickr account for the new videos when we upload this. We have some incredible videos from our Gorilla Tracking Tours and Primate Holidays and we are very happy to share them with you and the world.

Mountain Gorilla Twins

If you would like more information regarding our Primate Watching Holidays and how to book a Gorilla Tracking Holiday then please contact us or browse our Primate Holiday page for more information.

Snow Leopard Camera Trapping in Ladakh

admin — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 14:25:50 +0000

Whilst on our Snow Leopard Trekking Holidays of North West India, we try to get camera footage of this rare and elusive cat. We have actually had more luck in seeing them in person that capturing them on camera. Which is brilliant, but you can see Nawang, one of our local snow leopard trackers, setting up on the cameras in the below video. To make sure that the camera is set up at the right height he crawls along at the height of a snow leopard. It makes for an interesting video anyway. However we have failed largely with the camera traps here but we do have an incredible record of spotting snow leopards on our Snow Leopard Watching Holidays with a 70% success rate in spotting them we are among the best in the business. In fact our last two Snow Leopard Tours we have found 8 individuals including a mother and 2 cubs on our most recent tour (February 2013). So please watch the video and visit our Snow Leopard Tour webpage and find out more information about these trips.

If you would like more information on our Wildlife Holidays and Snow Leopard Trekking Tour then please review our website to see our fill range of wildlife watching tours or Contact Us

Silverback Charge on our Primate Watching Holiday

admin — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:31:02 +0000

Explore our great new video and photo albums at our new Flickr account, by doing this you will be able to watch this incredible video. It shows the silverback of the Hirwa group in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park and his friendly (if not intimidating) charge towards a couple of my guests. Of course no body was in an serious danger, they listened to my instructions as well as the instructions of the local rangers and didn’t run and the silverback just stood looking powerful to make sure we knew who was boss. During most Gorilla Tracking Holidays with mountain gorillas there is a period near the start of the encounter where the silverback throws his weight around to show us that he is happy for us to be around him and his group but only on his terms. This video and the whole experience was just this, but what an amazing experience to have. This was one of the highlights of our Primate Watching Holiday to Rwanda this year. Please keep on referring back the news feed as well as our Facebook account, YouTube channel and Flickr galleries for more pictures and videos from all of our Wildlife Watching Holidays all over the world.

Silverback Charge Video

Elephant Charge on Safari Holiday

admin — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:58:48 +0000

Whilst on our Wildlife Holidays and Safari Tours we try to get as close as possible to the animals, as long as we are safe and most importantly the animals are not stressed and that they are safe. However there are occasions where the animal is unseen until it is too late, this happens rarely but it does happen. This video is when we where driving through Kruger National Park on one of our African mammal watching safari holidays when all of a sudden this young bull elephant burst out of the bush and charged us. It was not an aggressive charge, more a charge to show who is boss, we probably spooked him as much as he spooked us. We do not aim to have this kind of experience as many things can go wrong but it was an incredible experience all the same. This is just one incredible moment on one of our African Safari Holidays and if you would like to know more about our range of Wildlife Holidays and Wildlife Tours then please browse through our website.

If you would like more information on our Wildlife Holidays and African Safari Holidays then please review our website to see our fill range of wildlife watching tours or Contact Us

Silverback Waking up and Drying Himself

admin — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 10:55:22 +0000

Have a look at our Flickr account and watch the incredible video (with a link below as well) of the silverback of the Hirwa group as he finally wakes up after a rain storm and begins to dry himself off on the ground. During our Primate Watching Holiday of both Uganda and Rwanda we spent a magical hour with the Hirwa group in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. At first the rain forced the gorillas to remain motionless like statues. Then they began to wake up and this video shows when the silverback wakes up, Martin is probably stood a little close to the silverback as he rolled forward and began to roll around on the ground to get rid of the rain water on his coat. We were perfectly safe but it is a little intimidating when such a huge and powerful animal moving around so close to you, but this is one of the greatest encounters on our Gorilla Tracking Holidays. So please follow the below link and watch this video as well as our many other videos and also keep checking our Flickr page as we have many more Gorilla Watching Holiday videos to upload.

Silverback Waking Up Video