Today begins our journey to China via an overnight, international flight. We will work with each participant in the months leading up to the journey to select flights that ensure a group arrival in Kunming.

After meeting our private bird guide and/or driver at the airport, we’ll drive directly to the hotel. After checking in, we can go birding around the hotel, if time permits. We will have the first chance to savor our Yunnan dishes together, and get to know our fellow adventurers. Overnight: Yongdu Hotel or similar.

In the early morning, we will drive to the Kunming Botanical Garden where diverse plants provide good habitats for different wintering and resident birds including Red-tailed Minla, Black-breasted Thrush, Blue Whistling Thrush and Spot-breasted Scimitar Babbler. We then drive to the airport to catch our flight to Mangshi, then we will drive another 1.5hrs to Ruili. Overnight: Weijing Garden Boutique Hotel or similar.

We will focus our birding time in Ruili on two places, the Nanjingli and the Moli Tropical Forest where we will search for Streaked Wren Babbler, Red-billed Scimitar Babblers, White-hooded Babblers, Wire-tailed Swallow, Himalayan Swiftlet, Black-throated Laughingthrush, Black-crested Bulbul, Red-headed Trogon, Scarlet-faced Liocichla, Silver-eared Leiothrix, Jerdon’s Baza, Rufous-backed Sibia, Pin-tailed Green Pigeon, Spotted Forktail, Stripe-breasted Woodpecker, and both Pale-billed and Rufous-headed Parrotbills, and more. Overnight: Weijing Garden Boutique Hotel or similar.

We spend the morning of Day 5 in Ruili looking for birds and other wildlife, then drive on to Yingjiang for the next couple of days. In recent years, Yingjiang has become an important spot to look for hornbills. It is also a great place to look for pheasants and other forest birds, including Silver Pheasant, Kalij Pheasant, Red Junglefowl (ancestor of our domestic chicken), Grey Peacock-Pheasant, White-cheeked Partridge, White-throated Bulbul, Grey-backed Shrike, Grey Treepie, White-crested Laughingthrush, Silver-eared Mesia, etc. We will spend two full days exploring Yingjiang. Overnight: Guanghe Hotel or similar.

Before we get to Nabang. We will have a stop at Tongbiguan which is another important spot for forest birds, where we can expect birds like Spot-bellied Eagle-Owl, Blue-throated Barbet, Speckled Piculet, Blyth's Shrike Babbler, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Davison's Leaf Warbler, Red-billed Scimitar Babbler, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, Golden- fronted Leafbird, etc. After that, we head on to Nabang, a small border town between Burma and China. We will spend the following two nights in a local guesthouse. Overnight: Nabang Bianchui Guesthouse or similar.

We will spend the whole day searching for low elevation birds around Nabang. On the way to King of Old Banyan tree, we will search for small forest birds while along the river which serve as the border between China and Mymar, we will look for Black-tailed Crake, Grey- headed Parakeet, Blue-throated Bee-eater and River Lapwing. In the forest, along a deserted road, we will search for Long-tailed Broadbill, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Collared Myna, Vinous-breasted Starling, Mountain Imperial-Pigeon, Sapphire and Hill Blue Flycatcher. Overnight: Nabang Bianchui Guesthouse or similar.

In the morning, we drive to Laifengshan Park of Tengchong. We will look for birds like Tibetan Serin, Black-breasted Thrush, Mountain Bamboo Partridge, Brown-winged Parrotbill, Slender-billed Oriole, Darjeeling Woodpecker, Rufous-bellied Woodpecker. Followed lunch in Tengchong, we drive to Gaoligong Mountain.

Located in the western side of Yunnan Province, Gaoligong belongs to the south end of Hengduan Mountain Ranges, which has been listed by Conservation International as one of 26 hot spots for biodiversity due to abundance of bio-resources. The elevation of the reserve rise from 900 meters to 4000 meters above the sea level. Because of its 7 complete vegetation types have been formed in the reserve, so far about 525 bird species have been recorded in the reserve, accounting for 43.3% of the total in Yunnan province, including 40 endangered bird species under national protection. We will spend two days in the core area of Gaoligong Nature Reserve. In the early morning we drive to the highest place we can and start our hike upward to the place where we will search for Broad-billed Warbler, Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler, Silver Pheasant, Red-tailed Laughingthrush and Wedge-billed Wren Babbler. Then we will search for Scarlet Finch, Spot-breasted Parrotbill and Scarlet Minivet in lower

We’ll spend some time at lower elevations in Gaoligong, then drive to Dali, famous for its huge lake named Erhai, and the grand mountain standing by the side of the lake. We will visit Erhai to see some water birds like Purple Swamphen this afternoon. After checking in our Bai-styled hotel located inside the ancient town, we can explore the old town together. Overnight: Landscape Hotel or similar.

For birders, Cangshan is very attractive due to rich bird resources. According to statistics, over 300 bird species have been recorded here. In the early morning, we drive along a paved mountain road up to the higher part of the mountain and start our morning search for the star bird, Lady Amherst's Pheasant. Then we slowly walk down the winding road to search for birds such as Yunnan Fulvetta, Chinese Thrush, Elliot’s Laughingthrush, Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler and Crimson-browed Finch. In the afternoon, we drive on to Zixishan to stay the night. Overnight: Songyue Guesthouse or similar.

Covering about 16,000 hectares in land size, Zixishan Nature Reserve is dominated by evergreen forest and Yunnan pine forest, the forest coverage in the reserve is as high as 90%. Over 100 bird species have been recorded here including Mrs. Hume's Pheasant, Giant Nuthatch and Yunnan Nuthatch. We will spend most of the day in the forest searching for the star birds Giant Nuthatch and Yunnan Nuthatch, and other forest birds. Before driving back to Kunming, we will visit Yi People’s Ancient Town in the afternoon to learn the unique culture and architecture. Overnight: Caiyunke Hotel or similar.

After breakfast at the hotel, we drive to the airport to catch our flights back to the United States from Kunming.