Trip Overview

This 18-day Myanmar Comprehensive Birding & Culture Tour is a perfect combination of birding and cultural sightseeing, exploring all the major birding & cultural sites of the country. The whole point of the holiday is to search for all of Myanmar endemic and near endemic species, widespread Southeast Asian species and Asian mountain birds, along with a number of highly sought-after Himalayan species that cannot be located anywhere in other Southeast Asian countries as well as exploring some of the most famous cultural sites of the country. We begin our birding tour with a private transfer from Yangon International Airport to our hotel in Yangon, where we spend two nights with the opportunity to marvel at cultural highlights of the city including the world’ largest gilded pagoda of Shwedagon as well as the chance to begin our introductory birding in the park of Hlawga on the outskirts of bustling Yangon in search of the localized Davison’s Bulbul and other lowland forest birds. We fly north to Mandalay, the ancient royal city of the last Burmese Kings and spend two nights to explore major cultural highlights of Mandalay. Leaving Mandalay behind, we take a short flight to Heho in the eastern mountains, from where a short drive will take us to the former British hill station of Kalaw. We spend two nights in Kalaw, exploring the best birding sites around Kalaw with the chance of locating the highly localized near endemic Burmese Yuhina and other highly sought-after Asian mountain birds. After two days of birding around Kalaw, we drive the short distance east to the famous Inle Lake and spend two nights with the opportunity of exploring some major cultural highlights as well as the chance to search in particular for the scare and habitat-restricted Jerdon’s Bushchat, near-endemic Collared Myna and the desirable Chinese Grassbird, along with a number of water birds on the Lake. Departing Inle Lake, we travel west on a short flight heading towards the ancient city of Bagan in the central dry zone of the country. With about 4000 ancient monuments including over 2000 well preserved ancient temples and pagodas dating back from 9th to 13th century, Bagan is the Southeast Asia’s richest archeological site as well as one of the most remarkable archeological sites in the world. We spend three nights in Bagan with the opportunity to marvel at major cultural highlights of Bagan as well as the chance to explore the open acacia and dry forest in search of these sought-after endemic species such as Burmese Bushlark, White-throated Babbler, Ayeyawady Bulbul, Burmese Collared-Dove, Jerdon’s Minivet and the seldom-encountered Hooded Treepie, along with a selection of other fantastic species. On our final afternoon in Bagan, we’ll take a boat trip down the mighty Irrawaddy River to a grassy island in the middle of the River in search of Southeast Asia’s riverine species such as River Lapwing, Yellow-eyed, Striated Babblers, desirable White-tailed Stonechat, and Yellow-breasted Bunting. Leaving Bagan behind, we take a private long drive towards the Natmataung (Mt.Victoria) national park in the Chin Hills which are mountain ranges that consist of a southern extension of the eastern Himalayas and we spend four nights at a comfortable mountain resort set inside the national park with an excellent opportunity of seeking these highly sought-after endemics such as White-browed Nuthatch and Burmese Tit, along with very near-endemic species such as Chin Hills Wren-Babbler, Mount Victoria Babax, Spot-breasted Scimitar Babbler, Striped and Brown-capped Laughingthrush as well as a huge selection of other sought-after Himalayan species that cannot be found anywhere in Southeast Asia. After three full days of exploring the Natmataung National Park, we make our way back down to dry and hot Bagan and spend the night before returning to Yangon. We fly back to Yangon for our final night. We conclude our fascinating birding tour with a private transfer back to Yangon International Airport for your International departure flight back home.

Practical Information

Practical Information