PRIVATE GUIDED & CUSTOM BIRDING TOURS

We offer private guided tours and customised birding trips for small groups, couples and individuals across Oman. We can tailor a trip to your exact requirements and offer advice and assistance in order for you to see your target species. Whether you want an intensive dawn to dusk birding trip, or a more relaxed birding experience, Oman has it all. From Arabian endemics, migration specials, seabird spectaculars or photography tours - just let us know.

But there's a few things you should know....

Oman Birding has been created, is hosted, the website updated & maintained by a British company - Zoothera Global Birding Ltd. It is only due to Nick Bray that this website was created and he is one of a few bird guides who regularly returned to Oman when it opened for tourism again in very recent years. Nick has so far completed 14 tours to Oman now and has guided large groups and single birdwatchers as well.

The background to this venture is that Oman does not have any local, indigenous bird guides at all (that we know of) and unlike many other countries around the world does not have the capacity of local birdwatchers with a significant knowledge to help conduct tours. Most birdwatchers want to be led & guided by a competent knowledgeable guide who can identify all the birds and understand the needs of visiting birders. If you require just a half day looking for wildlife or a full day to look for a few birds, then this can be very hard to arrange, as most of the guides are European and whilst they may be in Oman 5-6 times per year, which is the case with Nick Bray, odd days here and there will usually not be able to be facilitated as the cost to fly someone in will be prohibitive.

One other thing to mention about Oman is that it is not like India, or Indonesia or West Africa for example where you can be guided for relatively little cost. The local sightseeing driver-type guides here in Oman will not work for minimum wages. For example ,a two day sightseeing trip with one night in a local hotel in Nizwa will cost around USD $1900 for an Omani tourist guide to drive you there and back. That is fact! We have heard there is a “guide” in Salalah who will take you out for 6 hours each day to look for any birds he can find and he will charge OMR 150 and he does not have a vehicle, so you must drive.

We are getting many enquiries where the end result is that people tell us they want a local guide at local prices, without understanding that this is not a request you can make in Oman. And we doubt it is any different in other Middle East countries.

Birdwatching is relatively new in Oman, and to find and train local people or people wanting to work in this industry in Oman will take many years. Currently, the Omani government has a policy to encourage local Omanis to work, but there is a resistance to this and apparently not much need or incentive.

With that in mind, we would like to try and help you get the most out of your trip to Oman but we feel as we are answering so many enquiries and giving people transparent quotations and itinerary’s we must make some things clear:

1. The cost of a professional birdwatching guide in Oman is OMR 200 per day minimum - this is dawn till dark birding, especially when looking for owls.

2. None of the guides live in Oman, so if they are guiding you they will need accommodation, which can be OMR 15 – OMR 30 per night depending on location.

3. They will pay for their own food as they would at home, and don’t expect you to pay this.

4. They will need to hire a car, unless you are happy to drive. The car will almost always need to be a 4x4 in order to reach the secluded wadis where the birds live.

5. We get enquiries from people wanting to be driven from Muscat – Salalah, and this is 1000km drive and can take 3 days if you include the usual birding stops.

6. If you would like to be taken to Masirah or Musandam this will require an airplane journey for Musandam or a ferry for Masirah, which would need to be taken into consideration price wise.

7. We will always give you a breakdown of every cost for you to agree to.

These are the main reasons that the vast majority of people who want to see birds in Oman will join a group, in order to share the costs of the guides fees and the car hire.

Email us at: birders@oman-birding.com for further information or to inform us of your travel requirements.