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Dates: 28th Feb – 7th Mar 2027
Price: £1,495 Places available
Single Room Supplement: £0
Deposit: £150 per person
Price Includes: All meal, accommodation with private facilities, ground transport, services of guides, holiday report
Not Included: Flights, travel insurance, drinks and any other personal items
Conservation Donation: Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland
Leaders: Alice Hunter (second leader for group >6)
Group Size: Minimum of 4 and a maximum of 12 guests plus 1-2 leaders
Grade: Gentle paced walks in a variety of terrains. Ideally suited to photography
Holiday Highlights
- An excellent chance to escape winter & enjoy spring where it arrives early, with a week full of flora & other wildlife
- Endemic / regional Orchid species such as Orchis punctulata, Ophrys elegans, Ophrys kotschyi, Orchis troodi, Ophrys umbilicata subsp. flavomarginata & a good many more to enjoy too!
- Beautiful spring flowers, including a range of endemic & interesting species, plus some tulips & crocuses
- Spring butterflies such as the endemic Paphos Blue & Eastern Festoon
- Birds such as Cyprus Scops Owl, Cyprus Wheatear, endemic subspecies of Coal Tit and Short-toed Treecreeper, Sardinian Warbler, Zitting Cisticola & Chukar
- Itinerary designed to provide a relaxing but varied range of locations & associated flora & fauna
- Contribute to conservation with a donation to BSBI
Spring comes early to Aphrodite’s Isle & we invite you to leave winter behind for a while and join us for a week of warmth & wildlife!
In ancient Greek mythology Cyprus was seen as the beautiful playground of the gods & the birthplace of Aphrodite, the most beautiful deity. Spring comes early to Aphrodite’s Isle & we invite you to leave winter behind for a while and join us for a week of gentle warmth & wildlife! Cyprus is located in the Eastern Mediterranean and famed as a holiday destination for sun-seeking holidaymakers due to its mild climate. What many visitors don’t realise though is that beneath the exterior of sun umbrellas and beach resorts, the third largest island in the Mediterranean has been created by the collision of two tectonic plates and the resulting uplift has caused the island to be composed of unusual bedrock with high incidence of components like Copper (which may be the etymological origin of the island’s name) and Serpentine. This in turn has been a contributing factor to the plant life that grows on the island and now around 8% of the species on Cyprus are classed as endemic, meaning that they don’t occur anywhere else. During our time on the island, we will enjoy a number of these including orchids and other plant families, plus a variety of other taxa from birds like Cyprus Scops Owl and Cyprus Wheatear to reptiles like Troodos Lizard and Sling-tailed Agama and species from a number of other groups that are also found only on Cyprus. The tour is timed to take in the emergence of spring flowers and orchids in particular, including but not limited to Anacamptis coriophora, Anacamptis morio ssp. syriaca, Dactylorhiza romana, Epipactis veratrifolia, Himantoglossum robertianum, Orchis punctulata, Orchis x seizikiana, Ophrys anatolica ssp. elegans, Oprhys bornmuelleri, Ophrys iricolor, Ophrys kotschyi, Ophrys mammosa, Ophrys umbilicata ssp. flavomarginata & Ophrys umbilicata ssp. lapethica. It will also be perfect timing to take in birds on spring migration so there is the possibility of adding species to the list that may not be resident on the island. We will cover a variety of habitats and altitudes to see as wide a range of species as possible during our time. In addition to the wildlife though, we hope to enjoy some of the culture of the island with a visit to the archaeological site at Kourion. The leaders have a wide range of general wildlife knowledge and the focus on this tour will match and thus our aim will be to sample and enjoy any and all flora & fauna that we see during our days out – this is about showing you much more than the orchids which Cyprus is rightly famous for. The tour will be conducted at a pace perfectly suited for photography and enjoyment of the nature and wildlife with which we will surround ourselves. We look forward to welcoming you on what promises to be a popular tour. Early booking is recommended!
Day 1
Arrival & meet at Paphos airport. Transfer to our hotel on the northern coast of the Akamas peninsula.
Time and weather permitting, we may stop en route.
Day 2
We will undertake a walk into the surrounding countryside from our hotel in the morning in search of our first birds, wildflowers & orchids of the holiday. Among the species we hope to find are Orchis punctulata, Ophrys umbilicata ssp. flavomarginata, Himantoglossum robertianum & Gladiolus italicus. Birds may include Sardinian Warbler, Zitting Cisticola & Chukar.
In the afternoon we will head along the coast to visit the local botanical gardens & Baths of Aphrodite before exploring the coastal area further.
Day 3
Today we will explore part of the Akamas peninsula & take in some of the endemic species to be found there, along with some more of the abundant orchid species of the area. We aim to find Ophrys argolica ssp. elegans, Ophrys bornmuelleri, Ophrys mammosa, Dactylorhiza romana, Orchis x seizikiana, Anacamptis morio ssp. syriaca & other orchids, along with Odontarrhena akamasicum, Thymus integer & Paphos Blue.
Day 4
Today we will transfer to our second hotel for the trip. En route, we will stop to look for Tulipa agenensis.
The remainder of the day will be spent visiting a site for dune species and then the iconic Avakas Gorge, a beautiful area & home to some rare endemic plants.
Day 5
Having settled in our next hotel, we will spend the morning at the archaeological site of Kourion, taking in the partially reconstructed amphitheatre and well-preserved mosaics as well as some of the plants on the site and the numerous birds that call in on their way through & make this their home.
Later in the day we will visit a village full of Crown Anemones on our way to a walk on which we will look for Oprys iricolor, Ophrys umbilicata ssp. lapethica, Orchis italica & others.
Day 6
Today we will head up Mount Olympus in the Troodos Mountains in search of the endemic Crocuses that bloom after the winter snows. There are several other endemic species to look out for at altitude too, including Teucrium cyprium, Ranunculus cyprius, Corydalis rutifolia & Euphorbia veneris. Today offers the best opportunity to look out for the endemic subspecies of Coal Tit and Short-toed Treecreeper too.
Day 7
On our final full day of the holiday, we will explore the Akrotiri peninsula further. We will look for Epipactis veratrifolia, Ophrys kotschyi, Anacamptis coriophora & others. We will scan the salt lake for birds such as Greater Flamingo and take in another site for bird watching, where waders like Spur-winged Lapwing & Snipe may be present.
Day 8
Transfer to Paphos airport. Depending on the timing of flights, we may be able to revisit some local sites or explore the Paphos Archaeological Area prior to departure.
“I enjoyed every second of this trip. The itinerary is extremely well put together, we visited a wide variety of habitats, which gave us a great insight into the nature of Cyprus. Being in two locations was amazing, as we never had too long drives and instead focused on exploring amazing places. The guide is very knowledgeable, but also, created a great atmosphere and went out of her way to cater to our interests. Orchids galore and a lot of other plants, butterflies, birds, lizards, agamas and treefrogs – I could not wish for a better holiday! Thank you!” Alena A, 2026
“Alice treated us to a very well researched and carefully planned itinerary visiting a wide range of beautiful sites from coastline to mountains as well as managing to fit in a couple of archaeological sites. She was an excellent guide with an extensive knowledge of the native flora and fauna, which she shared with us with great patience and good humour. Alice looked after our group very well and the accommodation and food were also very good. A thoroughly enjoyable week which I would highly recommend.” Hazel W, 2026
“This was a good trip. We were met by our guide, Alice Hunter, at the airport and whisked away immediately in a new and spacious minibus. We stayed in two different hotels, both clean and well-maintained with friendly staff and good food. The latter was generally served buffet-style with plenty of choice. Alice took us to numerous sites in order to see orchids and other flowers. Most or all of these localities had been scouted by Alice in the days prior to our trip so she knew exactly what was there to be found. Because she knew the island well, she was also able to be flexible if plants were not in good condition or proved hard to find. In these situations, she would move on fairly promptly to another site. Our small group (4) gelled well and the trip was good fun. Lots of good memories. I look forward to re-booking with Greenwings in 2027.” Yealand K, 2026
