Birdwatching Holiday Kazakhstan Uzbekistan

Central Asia: birding the Silk Road

Thursday 12 May to Monday 30 May 2011
with Steve Rooke and Victoria Kovshar as leaders.

Cost: £3560 plus about £700 for flights (2011)
Single room supplement: £210

Please click here for details and an explanation of the price breakdown

Maximum group size: 14 with 2 leaders. 2 leaders join this tour regardless of group size.

'My first birding trip that felt more like a real holiday. Steve was a fabulous leader, so professional and extremely entertaining.' V. Davison 2006

'Organisation was excellent. Ground crew and leaders always did their best to add that little bit extra.' P. Wilson 2006

'Quite simply a wonderful tour. It was an experience that will stay with me always.' B. Leach 2009

The Silk Road, Samarkand and Bukhara – names that conjure up images of fierce Mongol hordes storming out of the east and of dusty camel trains and crowded bazaars where exotic jewels and oriental spices were traded by travellers from far-off lands. Stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Tien Shan mountains, the Central Asian countries of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are indeed richly endowed with history and culture, a flavour of which we’ll sample on this exciting tour.

The varied traditions and customs of this fascinating region are matched by a wide variety of habitats. We follow the Golden Road to Samarkand, an ancient route that leads to the drifting sand dunes of the Kyzyl-Kum desert, where we’ll look for Pander’s Ground Jay, one of the region’s really special birds. Following the ancient trading routes we’ll find ourselves surrounded by the enormous skies and wormwood-scented breezes of the northern Kazak steppes alive with White-winged and Black Larks and we’ll seek out ancient woodlands where Yellow-eyed Stock Doves and Saxaul Sparrows still breed. Then, turning south, we’ll reach the dramatic splendour of the snow-capped Tien Shan mountains, awash with wild flowers and home to Himalayan Snowcock and Güldenstadt’s Redstart.

Now oil-rich countries in their own right, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are developing fast but still manage to retain an air of mystery and intrigue guaranteed to fire the imagination. The fantastic birds combined with the rich and unique cultural heritage is sure to present a truly memorable birdwatching experience, which Steve, on his fourteenth tour to the region, is keen to share with you.

Day 1: The tour begins with a flight to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, arriving in the early morning of Day 2.

Day 2: After arrival we'll transfer to the domestic terminal and connect with a short flight to the Silk Road city of Bukhara. We’ll check in to our hotel located in the heart of the old town and have time to rest after the flight before venturing out to the surrounding wetlands to begin our birding. Here we’ll explore reedbeds that are home to Clamorous and Moustached Warblers as well as the Caspian race of Reed Warbler, Bearded Tit and the local race of Reed Bunting. Smart Citrine and Black-headed Wagtails and Bluethroats add splashes of colour while White-tailed Plovers in breeding plumage, and Kentish Plovers are common. Marbled Duck and Caspian Gulls can usually be found and we’ll look out for flights of Glossy Ibis or Pygmy Cormorants. We’ll see the first of many Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters and Pied Bushchats and there is always the chance of a Purple Heron, Collared Pratincoles or Oriental Skylark. Night in Bukhara.

Day 3: In contrast to the rich wetlands we saw yesterday, today we’ll venture deep into the dry Kyzyl-Kum Desert to search for the handsome Pander’s Ground Jay, one of the really special birds of Central Asia. These striking grey, black and white birds spend much of their time running over the sand dunes that are dotted with saxual bushes, occasionally flying up to perch in a prominent position. We can also expect to see the local desert race of Little Owl, Stone Curlew, lots more Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, Steppe Grey Shrike, Isabelline Wheatear, and Streaked Scrub Warbler, while any small stand of trees can hold migrants from flocks of Rose-coloured Starling and Golden Orioles to Thrush Nightingales and Ortolan Buntings.

Later we’ll return to Bukhara and spend the afternoon immersing ourselves in the true splendour of the historic old town. We’ll visit the Ark, where Stoddart and Connolly met their famous demise in 1842, the Kalen Minaret - one of the few building left standing after the visit of Genghis Khan, the trading domes where ancient caravanserai would ply their trade, and many other sights. There will be time to haggle over the price of a Bukharan rug, buy spices or pause for a cold drink at Labi Hauz, the social heart of the old town surrounded by stunning buildings and mulberry trees that were planted in the 15th century. Night in Bukhara.

Day 4: Venturing out of the town once more we’ll have a morning to look at a mix of dry scrub, reed-fringed pools and open desert steppe. As well as species we have already encountered we’ll be looking for Sykes’s Warbler, Rufous Bush Robins, and a few pairs of the shy Ménétries’s Warbler. The roadside wires are a good place to see Oriental and European Turtle Doves and Long-tailed Shrikes, while any pool can hold flocks of Red-crested Pochard or migrant Red-necked Phalaropes. We’ll return to Bukhara for lunch and then begin our journey along the Silk Road to the fabled city of Samarkand. Night in Samarkand.

Day 5: To the south of the town lies a range of low hills where we’ll stroll along a delightful valley alive with Red-headed Buntings. White-throated Robins and Eastern Orphean and Upcher’s Warblers breed among the bushes and Hume’s Short-toed Lark feeds among the rocky outcrops. Isabelline and Lesser Grey Shrikes and Eastern Rock Nuthatch also breed along with a few pairs of European Bee-eaters and, with luck, we may encounter a striking Asian Paradise Flycatcher or a Finsch's Wheatear.

Those interested in plants or butterflies will find much to occupy them as this sun-drenched spot is a riot of insects and flowers. For lunch we’ll escape the midday sun to the shade of a wooded valley for lunch before we return to the town in the late afternoon in time to visit the stunning Registan, a beautiful assembly of turquoise-blue domes and towering minarets and one of the most famous sites in Central Asia. Night in Samarkand.

Day 6: The day will start with a visit to some pools where we should see Shikra, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Turkestan Tit, and White-crowned Penduline Tit among other species. We’ll then spend time visiting more of Samarkand’s treasures including the elaborately decorated mausoleum of Tamerlane, whose vast empire had its centre in Samarkand, the massive Bibi Khanum mosque (once the largest in Central Asia), and the amazing Shahr-i-Zindar, the street of tombs that is a riot of coloured tiles.. . After lunch we’ll begin the drive to Tashkent, stopping along the way to look at Pied and Variable Wheatears, a bizarre colony of White Storks nesting on power pylons, and a wetland with breeding Pygmy Cormorants. Night in Tashkent.

Day 7: Our day will be spent in the Chimgan Hills. The lower slopes are drenched in juniper trees that are home to Hume’s Lesser Whitethroat, Yellow-breasted and Rufous-naped Tits, and White-capped and Rock Buntings. Red-rumped Swallows nest under the balconies of the local buildings while overhead we can expect Eurasian and possibly Himalayan Griffons, Booted Eagle, Oriental and European Honey Buzzards, and Hobby. The songs of Nightingales and Blyth’s Reed Warblers are everywhere, and this can be a good place for migrants with anything from Waxwing to Hawfinch possible. Later we’ll drop down to lower altitudes, pausing at a stream to look for Blue Whistling Thrush. We’ll return to Tashkent and spend our last night in Uzbekistan at a traditional restaurant in the town. Night in Tashkent.

Days 8-10: Leaving Uzbekistan, we fly straight to Astana, the bustling and vibrant new capital of Kazakhstan located in the heart of the vast Asian steppe and we’ll have two days to explore the rich habitat and all that it has to offer. Close to the town are rich wetlands alive with clouds of Black and White-winged Black Terns and displaying Marsh Sandpipers, while Great Bitterns creep around the reedbeds and monotone Booted Warblers and showy Bluethroats sing from the bush tops. We’ll visit a lake that holds Slavonian, Black-necked and Red-necked Grebes, and White-headed Ducks as well as a good selection of passage waders.

Further out we enter the ancient steppe with its vast grasslands and lakes of fresh and salt water where bird song will fill the air and the sense of space will be exhilarating. We’ll search the grasslands for Dalmatian Pelican, Pallid Harrier, Red-footed Falcon, Demoiselle Crane, Great Black-headed, 'Baraba' and Slender-billed Gulls, a range of waders including breeding Black-winged Pratincoles, the rare Sociable Plover, hordes of migrant Red-necked Phalaropes, and handsome Ruffs in full breeding plumage. Passerines should include Citrine Wagtail and two splendid larks – White-winged and Black Larks– steppe birds par excellence. After a last, full day in the steppe we’ll fly back to Almaty in the evening of Day 10 for one night.

Day 11: Leaving our hotel early, we’ll take a picnic breakfast in a pleasant valley in the foothills of the Tien Shan mountains where we can expect to share breakfast with Brown and White-bellied Dippers, Azure Tits and with luck, Siberian Meadow Buntings. We the continue north into the wild heart of Kazakhstan to spend two nights camping in the Taukum Desert, a vast area of undulating hills and wormwood covered grasslands. On the way we’ll visit the Tamgaly petroglyphs, an ancient collection of bizarre rock carvings that is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Here, as well as admiring the strange rock art, we’ll search the surrounding hills for Chukars, Eastern Rock Nuthatch and Desert Finch before continuing to our camp. Night in desert camp.

Around the camp fire in the Taukum Desert

Day 12: Our camp is by an artesian well that acts as a magnet for local breeding birds, as well as numerous migrants. There is a constant stream of larks coming to drink – Calandra and Bimaculated are the most obvious but Greater and Lesser Short-toed Larks are also frequent visitors. Other birds we can expect include flocks of Black-bellied Sandgrouse and perhaps some of the scarce resident Greater Sand Plovers or handsome Caspian Plovers in full breeding plumage. This open desert is also home to Macqueen’s Bustard and we stand a good chance of finding a pair close to our camp.

Further north lies the delta of the Ili River, a strange area of sand dunes interspersed with marshy pools and stands of turanga trees that holds some of the region’s very special birds. Yellow-eyed Stock Dove, White-winged Woodpecker, Azure and Turkestan Tits and the beautiful Saxaul Sparrow are all easy to see, and careful searching may reveal a roosting Striated Scops Owl. In the reedbeds there will be Little Bitterns, Paddyfield Warblers, and some interesting races of Penduline Tit to search for, while the wetlands can hold anything from massive Dalmatian and even Great White Pelicans to dapper Ferruginous Ducks. Later we’ll return to the camp and visit a small farm, where trees and small pools can attract a dazzling array of migrants that can include anything from Oriental Turtle Doves, Barred and Blyth’s Reed Warblers to Black-throated Thushes or perhaps a Little Crake or European Nightjar. Night in desert camp.

Day 13: After a final morning around the camp, we head back to Almaty, following a different road to the one that brought us here. We’ll stop along the way at a small lake where we can marvel at a colony of thousands of Rose-coloured Starlings. As we drive, Long-legged Buzzards will be a common roadside site and if the rains have been good, there will be vast expanses of poppies stretching the horizon. We’ll reach Almaty in the late afternoon and check in to a comfortable hotel for the night.

Day 14: One of the great things about Almaty is the stunning backdrop to the city of the snow-capped Tien Shan mountains. Today we’ll travel east, following the line of these mountains towards China with Rollers and Lesser Grey Shrikes lining the roadside wires as we go. We’ll start early and go straight to an area that is traditionally the best place to see that most elusive of Central Asian birds, Pallas’s Sandgrouse. We’ll wait by a small drinking pool in the hope of catching sight of this nomadic species. We are bound to see their more common cousin, Black-bellied Sandgrouse but Pallas’s cannot be relied on to appear as their numbers vary from year to year. This is good Saker country and we’ll be on the look out for this as well as Desert Wheatear, smart Desert Finches, Spanish Sparrows and Pale Martins. We’ll eat our picnic lunch alongside a vast reedbed where Savi’s Warblers reel from the reed tops. Later we’ll check in to our lodge for two nights and after dinner search the grounds for the Scops Owl that should be calling constantly.

Day 15: The scenery in this part of Kazakhstan is truly inspiring with endless desert plains backed by low hills, dramatic gorges and distant snow-capped mountains. These habitats open plains and low hills are home to Demoiselle Cranes, Lesser Kestrels, Crag martin, Shore Larks, Desert Warblers, Rock Sparrow and Mongolian and Asian Crimson-winged Finch and Grey-necked Buntings. Raptors could include the mighty Golden, Imperial and Steppe Eagles. We’ll visit a small breeding colony of Himalayan Griffons and are sure to also see some Black Vultures with them and a Lammergeier is always possible. Nights at lodge.

Day 16-17: We retrace our steps towards Almaty, once again following the line of the Zailiysky Alatau range of the Tien Shan mountains. And this is our final destination as we pass through the city and climb steadily through pristine spruce forests. We’ll pause at a lake beautifully located in a deep valley and scan the stony shoreline for Ibisbills which regularly nest here, although our attention will undoubtedly be drawn to the tinkling song and striking plumage of numerous Red-fronted Serins.

Once we clear the tree line we’ll find ourselves in a crystal clear landscape of dense juniper bushes, flower-strewn alpine meadows, and snow-capped peaks. We’ll be staying in the Almaty Astronomical Observatory and after lunch we’ll spend the rest of the day exploring the habitats around the Observatory. The juniper will be alive with the song of Himalayan Rubythroats, Hume’s Leaf Warblers, Black-throated Accentors, Red-mantled and Common Rosefinches, and White-winged Grosbeaks. The beautifully marked Severtzov’s Tit-Warbler can also be found in this habitat along with the skulking Sulphur-bellied Warbler. If we have a clear night the Observatory staff will open up one of the large telescopes to allow us to view the moon and other planets.

On our second day we’ll leave early to drive higher to a mountain pass where where handsome Güldenstadt’s Redstarts nest and both Red-billed and Alpine Choughs wheel overhead. We’ll also be looking for the Altai and brown Accentors that inhabit this mountain wilderness, along with Plain Mountain Finches and Water Pipits. We’ll have heard the eerie calls of Himalayan Snowcock echoing around the lofty peaks but at this altitude we should be able to look down on some calling males. Nights in the Observatory.

Day 18: Today we return to Almaty taking all day to wander down through the dense spruce forest where we should find Nutcracker, Three-toed Woodpecker, Songar Tit, and Eversmann’s and Blue-capped Redstarts, while the numerous mountain streams are home to Blue Whistling Thrush and both Brown and White-bellied Dippers. Later we reach Almaty once more and check into a hotel for the night, ending the tour with a meal at one of the city’s fine restaurants. Night in Almaty.

Day 19: We take an early morning flight from Almaty back to London, arriving later the same day.