During the COVID-19 pandemic, I created "Virtual Birding Tours" for eight destinations around the globe.
VIRTUAL TOUR TRAILER
VIRTUAL TOUR FEEDBACK
“As usual, Ken’s slides of the birds and mammals were spectacular. The virtual tour was much more – with wonderful images that captured a fuller experience with Buddhist temples, spectacular scenery, and a people and culture rich and old. We so hope to turn our virtual tour into an actual tour and have signed up for the 2021 trip!”
“Loved this virtual tour; brought back great memories of being in Bhutan…”
“I took the Bhutan and Vietnam tours – Loved them both! I had been to both countries, but not on birding trips. It felt kind of like completing my experience. There were so many of your pictures that made me gasp at their beauty. Thanks so much for putting these together.”
“Thoroughly enjoyed your Bhutan and Snow Leopard tours. Mouth-watering and oh, so tempting. I can’t wait to travel again.”
“I was particularly impressed with the Borneo tour which I have just finished watching. I think your tours are getting better every time.”
“Blimey, Borneo beckons. Brilliant birding – bravo!”
“[We] very much enjoyed your Borneo VT. It looks like an amazing place with all of the endemic birds and the wide array of mammals.”
“Your Borneo tour is terrific, Ken!! Loved the visual intro, the geography lesson, the merging of video and audio. . . an excellent job all around. Borneo has been on my list for awhile; can’t wait now to get there.”
“Thanks for taking the time to make the virtual tours. I watched Borneo and am totally inspired to go, some mind blowing birds there. I really enjoyed your presentation; the right balance of birds and other aspects. I watched a [virtual tour by another group] the other day, but it was too distracted and full of clutter for me.”
“Your enthusiasm for Ethiopia made me move the trip up on my birding bucket list.”
“Thanks a ton for putting together your virtual tours! They are flipping awesome! I have watched Madagascar and Ethiopia and they have helped save me from certain meltdown :). I would give a number of body parts to travel with you to the Bali Mountains and Great Rift Valley. The photographic opportunities look insane and some crazy cool endemics!”
“[Ethiopia] was a truly outstanding video! My husband is worried about just how good it was. . . I’m thinking the 2022 tour is for me! Really liked your use of maps, and the mix of cultural, animal and scenery shots. Thanks for taking the time to put these together.”
“I also present lectures to Photographic Societies etc so know what I want to see from presentations and I have to say your talk exceeded expectations. I am not a specialist birder but wildlife photography and general interest in landscapes etc with my background as a geography graduate. I thought your mix of photography with the excellent maps made for an excellent all round talk.”
“We were equally thrilled with your descriptions, maps, and humor. There are some spectacular brown birds on the trip.”
“What a terrific idea! Watched Ken’s Madagascar virtual tour this afternoon, and both my husband and I were enthralled: grand photos, terrifically organized and Ken does a great job narrating. Madagascar’s been on my trip wish list for awhile, and now has several stars beside it. Looking forward to popping some popcorn and picking another video for tonight.”
“I appreciated the virtual tour so very much. Madagascar has always been a dream destination, and seeing the beauty through your eyes was priceless. I certainly hope that we will someday be able to see this beauty in person. I must say that the variety of herp life found on this magnificent island makes me want to go there even more!!”
“Please congratulate Ken on his Madagascar slide show – it had very well chosen content and his knowledge of the country shined through as did a sense of humour. We have been to Madagascar twice (though not with Tropical Birding) and loved it – it is not just the birds (though Shlegel’s Asity is really cool!) but the whole set of fauna right down to the leaf-tailed geckos which is all so amazing. And the people, the rice fields, the ox cart out to the boat – just everything. I can’t imagine how Ken decided what to put in and what to leave out. An excellent piece of work…”
“I thought your virtual tour was nearly perfect. Nicely paced with the photos left on display long enough to provide a good look, and your erudition showed through naturally. Your virtual tour put your Madagascar trip on my to do list once this age of cholera passes. I have passed the link on to friends and family both for your benefit and theirs. I am sure this pandemic must have put a real dent in your livelihood. Hang in there. I look forward to subscribing to more of your virtual tours.”
“The Madagascar virtual tour was great! And just the right amount of understated humor. Really got me thinking about signing up in the not too distant future. Looks like a beautiful country, I can see why you chose to live there.”
“I’d just like to say how fantastic the video by Ken Behrens was. Snow Leopard is way out in front on my world bucket list, and the video of the Leopard coming down to the carcass brought a tear to my eye; if I’d actually been there I think that I would cried with emotion! All the other mammals and birds were great too. What a FANTASTIC TRIP OF A LIFETIME! Great initiative in these difficult times from Tropical Birding with all its great Virtual Tours.”
“The video of the snow leopard made me cry. That was amazing!”
“The Snow Leopard VT was absolutely incredible… I can’t think of enough superlatives to describe it – fantastic, stupendous, magnificent, splendid, etc. Seriously though, you’ve succeeded in making me jealous of your life. The Snow Leopard trip must have been an incredible adventure, [SPOILER ALERT] especially upon seeing the female with her cubs. I was also drooling over the Ibisbill and a couple of others that I need for my “families” project.”
“Truly outstanding VT of your search for a snow leopard, Ken!! Really enjoyed it. Terrific photos, loved the plot and enjoyed Scott’s videos… Thanks for all your effort. Looking forward to your Bhutan VT.”
“Charley bragged on your Morocco VT, Ken, and he was right; great tour!! Excellent use of maps and audio. My [husband] really liked your text comments as well. Thanks again for doing these. Uh oh, another place to add to my list.”
“I just watched the Morocco tour. I really enjoyed this. Have not been to Morocco. Thank you very much.”
“We really enjoyed [Morocco]. You do a great job of balancing nature with culture and geography (and music).”
“My wife and I viewed your Morocco presentation. It was very good. Loved how you integrated music, your use of Google maps, and the great pix. ”
“[We] just discovered your virtual tour of Morocco… You did an excellent job putting this together.”
“We thoroughly enjoyed the Tanzania virtual tour. After having recently done a real-life East Africa tour I was wondering how you could possibly do justice to Tanzania in one short video. I thought you’d need to serialize it finishing each respective chapter with a cliffhanger. However, your approach was extremely effective and offered a nice diversity of representative B&B (birds and beasts). We were completely awed by Ngorongoro Crater, a truly iconic place for any naturalist. Thanks of providing a terrific tour with superb photos.”
“[Tanzania] was very well done! I especially appreciated the bird song clips you embedded in the presentation.”
“Thanks for the superb virtual tour of Tanzania!”
“We took the Vietnam tour. It was excellent, so well done. We liked the variety of seeing birds, places, food.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed [Vietnam]. I’m both – birder and photography. I always thought Vietnam would be a good place to bird but now I’m blown away after watching your video… This trip looks fantastic with all the hides. I just love Pittas, I’ve only seen a few… The pace of your video was perfect, not too slow, or not too fast. I liked seeing the route and hearing some details about things like food and accommodations.”
“Some truly spectacular birds in Vietnam, and viewing from the hides sounds amazing. Thanks for another wonderful tour!”
“Thanks so much for the trip to Vietnam. We had no idea that we needed to go there. We absolutely cannot wait to be on that trip someday!”
“I loved all your virtual birding tours–especially also because you included other nature, culture and context. Although I am fairly well-travelled, most of the destinations you covered are new to me. I am especially excited to join you on a tour to Madagascar because it is your adopted country. I’ve been Madagascar once and really, really loved it!! In fact it is one of my top 3 destinations ever! This time it would be with a focus on birds–something I’ve never done. Thanks again! Well done!”
“The virtual tour is fantastic!!! I loved the map (I love maps), your description of the terrain and habitat with gorgeous landscape photos, the food and wine YUM! and, those birds Wow. Wow wow.”
“I loved it! Really well done my man. Superb photos, the calls, the delivery … really brilliant.”
“Loving the virtual tour! Can’t wait to travel with you again after this is over.”
“Thanks for the tour to Madagascar! We are dreaming of the day we can join you there in person.”
“Love the addition of the vocal tracks. Very atmospheric…”
“We enjoyed the [Madagascar] video very much… We would love to do the real thing.”
“I thought that the [Madagascar] visual tour was fantastic. We had to postpone our trip to Uganda because of the pandemic but after seeing your virtual tour, now have put Madagascar high on our list of trips we want to take.”
“Thank you! I enjoyed the tour. I went to Madagascar in 2008.”
“Ken [Madagascar] was awesome! What a great idea for the guides to do. I [also] watched Charley’s Japan last night. What a wonderful trip down memory lane. Thank you very much!”
“We thought [Madagascar] was very well done. We enjoyed having the map reminders throughout, as we do like to follow along geographically, and you included a nice mix of birds, other animals, landscape, and culture. [Madagascar] is honestly one of our dream trips, and we know we need to get there sooner rather than later – hopefully sometime in the next couple of years. We look forward to seeing more virtual tours…”
“Your [Madagascar] virtual tour was terrific: full of information and wonderful photos. All those lemurs are amazing – one in particular looked like Baryshnikov!”
“[The Madagascar Virtual Tour] was amazing. Thank you for sharing.”
“Thanks for the tour. Madagascar looks amazing!”
“[We] are sitting here watching your virtual tour of Madagascar. Enjoying it immensely… Bringing back lots of great memories.”
“Loved reliving Madagascar! Especially the helmet vanga nest! So cool!! Be well!”
“The Madagascar virtual tour was great! It brought back really good memories of one of our best trips ever…”
“I watched the Madagascar tour as I had just been there in December. I loved the videos you added and playing background music was really nice. I hope many more birders support the virtual tours. It is a great idea and I enjoyed three of them yesterday.”
“I had a walk down memory lane via your Madagascar virtual tour-some great photos of some great birds and animals. I very much enjoyed it.”
“[We] watched the Madagascar video. I thought it was very well done. I liked how it flowed, with references to the map, and liked the multimedia with photos and video.”
“We watched the Madagascar [virtual tour], since that’s on our wish list of tour destinations, along with the Pantanal, and Vietnam, and and and…. I really enjoyed it. Some beautiful birds, and I loved the lemurs and the lizards. Beautiful chameleons!”
“I think the virtual tours are a great idea for guides to make the best of this situation, and I hope it works well for you. What this virus has done to the tourist industry and local business is heartbreaking. [In the Madagascar virtual tour] I really liked the short videos best where you get to see/hear the action.”
“These virtual birding tours are AMAZING. I’ve watched 5 so far! Thanks for inspiring us!”
“Great video! Someday we hope to see Vietnam. . .”
“We watched your Madagascar trip and it was wonderful. Such an interesting place!"
“I took the Madagascar trip and thoroughly enjoyed it. Very informative and the video and slides were excellent. Very well done. I look forward to viewing the Bhutan trip.”
“I have watched and very much enjoyed your Snow Leopard and Ethiopia tours. They are both excellent presentations. We did Madagascar in 2011 with Scott Watson, and I remember his being very excited about the upcoming snow leopard expedition. I was pleased to see how well it worked out.”
“Just enjoyed the Ethiopia tour. Excellent. Thanks!”
“I have just watched your Vietnam bird tour and really enjoyed it. They are a really nice feature… Keep up the good work.”
“You did a great job on the Madagascar VT that I took… the tour was beautifully done! Gave the viewer a real sense of being there and what to expect – example, when I read any birding company tour itinerary/description I can see the map – but that map doesn’t really let me know what the habitat, or terrain is like. Printed map doesn’t really mean much, but with a VT you see the itinerary map with an explanation and the pictures is very helpful.”
“My husband and I watched your Madagascar virtual tour. Thanks so much for taking the time to put it together… We enjoyed wondrous Madagascar immensely and you did an excellent job of capturing some of the incredible wildlife variety we saw and presenting it in a way that should make anyone who hasn’t been yearn to go and anyone who has been luxuriate in terrific memories!”
“Ethiopia! Wow!”
“I watched the Madagascar and Ethiopia tours and really enjoyed them. Fascinating landscapes and some spectacular birds. I’ve never been to Africa, but would love to go one day, so the virtual tours are a great way to get an impression of what to expect.”
“Thanks for taking me on the Snow Leopard tour! What an adventure! Loved every minute. You do a fantastic job with these videos, keep it up! I’m looking forward to Ethiopia next. PS. . . nice to meet your son!”
“Bhutan. Loved the Satyr Tragopan! Thanks for a great show!”
“How different is Ethiopia! Thank you for “getting me out” of my quarantine!”
“We really enjoyed the music that you used as background… Ethiopia is definitely a “must do” now. I had no idea that it was so green!”
“[Ethiopia] was fun! And beautiful! Thanks. Loved the music at the end. I also watched Madagascar the other week which I really enjoyed.”
“I’ve now watched the Snow Leopard and Vietnam. Both are amazing. I really admire the patience needed for the leopard which must be one of the most beautiful animals in the world. The Himalayas have always fascinated me. The first TB trip I took was to Bhutan and I wish I could afford the time for a second visit. I look forward to your upcoming virtual tour!”
“Just wanted to say a big thank you for producing the virtual bird tours. Initially I just picked the destinations I’m seriously contemplating to visit one day, but it’s almost turned into a routine now for me, my wife and my 9-year old daughter to watch a tour every other day or so. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you that at least some real tours can resume again in the not too distant future and that you have some sort of alternative income in the meantime. Please also extend our appreciation to all the other guides who have produced virtual tours.”
“We enjoyed all of the virtual tours. I think you cover the bases very well as far as what to expect from the trip… I think it’s a real plus to get a full sense of the trip – culture, photography, mammals, topography etc.”
“Borneo and Tanzania both spectacular. Trying to persuade my girlfriend to do the later with me, the former already top of my wishlist!”