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A visit to Ningxia and Nei Mongol with AlpineBirdingI got in touch with amazing Bella with AlpineBirding in Chengdu, and asked if she could help with 2 days of birding during my visit to Yinchuan.She was very accommodating, and sent my English-speaking bird-guide Zhongliang Xie from Chengdu to meet with me.Xie arrived a day early and went scouting the local sites. Now, THAT is dedication!I spent two days with Xie:First day on the Yinchuan-side of Helan Mountain, from sunrise to sunset. I am not allowed by TripAdvisor to post links to the Ebird checklists, but they are of course available on the eBird site.The second day was changed, and we visited the Nei Mongol area and Alashan.
Birding here was great, with White-winged Redstarts as our main highlight, together with Saxaul Sparrow and Chinese Grey Shrike.This company comes highly recommended.Tommy Pedersen / North China (Ningxia) March 09, 2018
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Qinhai Birding Trip
A wonderful birding trip with Parus Yang, a knowledgeable and highly professional bird guide.
We visited a variety of sites that included a range of very different habitats and saw a great many novel and interesting birds of the Tibetan Plateau. Parus's enthusiasm and bird expertise made the trip a great success.
David Sherry / Qinghai-Tibet Plateau August 26, 2017
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We had a nice birding and wildlife tour with Philip He from Alpine Birding.
The top attraction for my husband, an avid photographer, were the Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys at the Dapingyu scenic area. The top attraction for me were the Crested Ibis outside the town of Yangxian.
It was a bit incongruous to see these endangered birds feeding in a stream less than 100 yards from highway construction, however! We also saw a large number of wild Mandarin Ducks in a mountain stream on our way back to Xi'an -- gorgeous! I was a bit disappointed that we could not actually hike up to the higher elevations in the Foping Nature Reserve (closed to tourists, as mentioned by other reviewers on this site).
Philip He did a great job finding (safe) places for us to eat, including a visit to a Sichuan-style hot pot restaurant where we were the only Westerners. Everything was well-organized by Philip and his partner Lucy Guo at Alpine Birding, with pick up at our hotel in Xi'an and drop-off at the airport in time for our return flight to the US.Susan and Philip / Middle China (Shaanxi) December 26, 2016
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Dear Philip,
Despite the hassles, it has been a very joyful journey! We have had countless happy moments and excellent views of birds many rare birds. Thanks for the excellent arrangements. Looking forward to have chance to bird with you and your colleagues again.
Yes we indeed need to produce appropriate documents in order to claim insurance. To simplify matters, we will draft a sample letter to you, so that you can reprodue several copies of it, one for each member of the group, with the individual's name and identity appear in the letter. The draft letter should be ready within the next few days. Thanks.KC Lee / Qinghai-Tibet Plateau January 20, 2016
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Birding in Sichuan
Arrange a birding / hiking trip in northwestern Sichuan. Our guide Parus Yang was a good guide with excellent ornithology knowledge. We saw despite not the best season lots of birds and mammals.
Accomodation which was arranged was fine.
Mathieu W / Northwest Sichuan June 19, 2015
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Hi, Philip
I have been busy answering e-mails and writing text for our newsletter and other things since getting back as lots of things needed doing - but things already calming down again.Thank you for your kind words and can I also say it was a complete pleasure working with you too, the words I said on our final evening were all completely from the heart and I can honestly say that the combination of you and Parus made for an excellent experience from the wildlife and cultural perspective. The guests were all telling me how much they enjoyed the holiday and how much your input made the holiday for them. To have someone who could explain and point out aspects of Chinese culture as diverse as architecture, food, religion, day to day life and more was just fantastic. I would say with hand on heart that this was one of the best trips I have led and for that I have you to thankI am also very aware that you had a huge amount to think about during the trip – timing the travel days to arrive at a sensible time while still giving us time to enjoy a few stops along the way is not always easy and you did it very well indeed. Organising our evening meals and breakfasts in the field and so much more is all time consuming and needs thinking through and again you did a fabulous job. In fact the trip simply worked very well indeed and I feel very privileged to have worked with you and visited your wonderful country.
I think the itinerary we chose was superb and clearly both the Terracotta Warriors at the start and pandas at the wend were both extremely popular.——Roy Atkins, a professional Bird Guide from UK in Custom Birding Trip in Sichuan in 2015
Roy Atkins / Custom Birding Trip in Sichuan May 20, 2015
