Dates & Prices

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Dates: 27th Dec 2020 – 3rd Jan 2021

Price: £1,195 Places available

Single Room Supplement: £100

Deposit: £150 per person

Price Includes: Accommodation, all meals, ground transport, services of guides & holiday report

Not Included: International flights, travel insurance, entry to archaeological areas, drinks & other personal items

Leader(s): Dr Yiannis Christofides & Matt Smith

Group Size & Travel: Minimum 4 & maximum 12 guests + 2 leaders

Grade: Generally easy walking at a very gentle pace

Holiday Highlights

Winter sunshine
Finsch’s wheatear, Spur-winged plover, Greater Flamingo, Black Francolin, Greater Sand Plover, Wallcreeper.
Two leaders for birds, plants and other fauna
Small group
relaxed pace
come early before Christmas in Larnaka or extend your holiday in Paphos

An exclusive opportunity to grab some winter sunshine & see in the New Year in Cyprus!

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Holiday Guide

Dr Yiannis Christofides is a botanist living in the Troodos Mountains of Cyprus and has experience of operating tours on the island all year round. Having obtained a degree in Chemistry from the University of London he returned to his mountain village where he took up botany. This led to a new book on the Orchids of Cyprus. Several new plants were recorded for Cyprus and new locations were found for old ones. In 2018 Yiannis published his own up to date Illustrated Flora of Cyprus.

His interests include Orchids round the Mediterranean, the Floras of Cyprus, Greece and Turkey and also the flora of European Mountains. He takes a keen interest in other life-forms such as Butterflies and other Insects, Reptiles, Dragonflies and even Lichens. He likes to share his knowledge with members of his groups and his infectious enthusiasm makes him one of our most popular leaders. Yiannis is also knowledgeable about the geology and history of areas he visits.

Matt Smith is an experienced local birder and published amateur photographer and videographer (Some work featured on National Geographic) who has a passion and vast knowledge of all wildlife, but mainly avi-fauna focused.

An old-fashioned Naturalist at heart, belonging to the Cyprus Dragonfly and Butterfly study Groups and being active in the Cyprus Birding Community for over a decade with discoveries to his name. Discovering Eurasian Hobby’s breeding/nesting in the Republic of Cyprus for the very first time in 2014 and also many rare vagrant records annually, most notably the Island’s first Amur Falcon.

Attributes new range data for Bird, Butterfly and Dragonfly species in Cyprus and attributing many new important sites to the Birding, Butterfly and Dragonfly community. Also notably discovered an amblypygi (Tail-less Whip Scorpion) species present in Cyprus for the first time and more recently discovering the first larvae of Pantala Flavescens (Wandering Glider) in Cyprus in 2018.

When not birding, herping, ode’ing, orchid hunting or butterflying, he is likely to be freediving in the seas around Cyprus, furthering his interest in Marine life!

An exclusive opportunity to grab some winter sunshine & see in the New Year in Cyprus!

Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean. Its position on the north-south migration routes, the presence of two large salt lakes, marshes and other water bodies, and the mild winter climate make it a magnet of a large number of wintering birds, including tens of thousands of flamingos. In the pools that form near the Salt lake one will find Armenian, Yellow-legged, Slender bill and other gulls. On the edge of the salt lakes there will be plovers, Little stint, Dunlin, sandpipers, Black-winged stilts and the occasional Spoonbill. A good population of Spur-winged plovers overwinters as well as a few Greater sand plovers.

Of the 3 cypriot endemic birds all the Cyprus wheatears leave the island, whilst some of the Cyprus warblers and the Cyprus Scops owl remain and may be seen. Cyprus is the only european destination where Black francolins may be seen, along with the commoner Chukar partridge. Long-legged Buzzard and Bonelli’s Eagle are the two common large raptors. Marsh harriers are seen flying over the marshes.

Other interesting birds that overwinter are Finsch’s wheatear, Blue rock thrush, Bluethroat and usually a Wallcreeper.

The mountains host their own birds with Dorothy’s Short-toed Treecreeper, Red Crossbill, Hawfinch and the local races of Coal tit and Jay.

In Cyprus spring really begins with the coming of the autumn rains. By late December many bulbs have started flowering and there will be fields of Anemone coronaria and other plants such as Romulea tempskyana, Cyclamen persicum and the endemic Hyacinthella millingenii. We shall look at the plants we come across, as well as any other fauna.