Your Tour—The Basics
March 3 - 8, 2012Six (6) participants will get to explore the jungles near the premier Lodge at Pico Bonito with award-winning nature photographer, Jeff Parker, as he shows you how much wildlife you can capture through your lens on Honduras’s renowned North Coast.
This tour is for photographers who love wildlife. Of special note is the Lovely Cotinga, one of Central America’s most elusive birds, but a frequent flyer here this time of year. Expect to see plenty of other birds, too, as Honduras provides refuge to more than 800 species, including dozens of species of neo-tropical migrants.
Travel with others sharing your enthusiasm for nature, photography and luxury eco-adventures without having to deal with the crowds of more touristy destinations. This is your chance to get off the beaten-path without feeling isolated.
This tour focuses on nature and photography and you’ll experience plenty of both. We’ll keep it casual and relaxed. Jeff will stay beside you while you capture images, guide you as you learn new techniques or perfect old ones, and show you around this new and exciting destination.
BOOK TODAY! Call us at 1 (512) 378-3355 or email jparker@JeffParkerImages.com
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What You’ll See and/or Photograph
Thanks to an abundance of unique flora and fauna, photographic ops abound here! From the lists below to interesting plants such as cacao (the plant chocolate comes from) to an onsite butterfly farm, to the serpentarium, to the region’s giant folklore-laden Ceiba trees, your lens will never be at a loss for images to capture.
Check it out: We highly suggest watching this 28-minute Audubon video, which does a wonderful job of describing Honduras, its terrain and its birdlife. About halfway through, the video focuses on Pico Bonito National Park and the area around The Lodge at Pico Bonito - exactly where we’ll be!
Wildlife you may photograph and/or see:
- Water Nutria
- Caiman
- Sloth
- Tepezcuintles
- Crocodile
- Basiliscus Lizard
- Iguana
- Boa Constrictor
- Bats (Long-nosed & Others)
- White-faced Capuchin Monkey
- Mantled Howler Monkey
- Agouti
- West Indian Manatee
- Blue Morpho Butterfly
Birds you may photograph and/or see:
- Lovely Cotinga
-
Keel-Billed Toucan
- Keel-Billed Motmot
- Emerald Toucanet
- Sunbittern
- Montezuma Oropendula
- White Hawk
- Jacana
- Anhinga
- Frigatebird
- Wood Stork
- Boat-billed Heron
- Collared Aracari
Your Accomodations
Nestled under the watchful eye of its dramatic 8000 ft. namesake, The Lodge at Pico Bonito has earned a fine reputation among those who enjoy luxury eco-travel. Nothing about this place is ordinary, beginning with the fact that its cabins are built from timber left by Hurricane Mitch.
Read some of the reviews:
- “Top 10 jungle eco-lodges of the world.” – National Geographic Adventure
- “A visit to The Lodge at Pico Bonito offers connections with Honduras in ways that transcend typical tourism.” – Audubon Magazine
- “One of the new generation of eco-lodges, where a politically correct philosophy doesn’t preclude creature comforts.” – Condé Nast Traveler
The Lodge at Pico Bonito edges up to Pico Bonito National Park, sharing a boundary with one of Honduras’s most wild and unexplored regions. A plethora of wildlife exists in the mountains beyond and, as you sit on the deck and sip a drink while you take in the canopied jungle, just knowing jaguars still roam out there somehow soothes the soul.
Here’s what Wildlife Conservation Magazine has to say:
“There’s so much completely untouched country out back, you never know what is going to come out of it...At the lodge, it’s just crazy, I don’t know anywhere else in the tropics like it.”
On Day Four we visit the very special Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge, which provides the chance to photograph a radically different ecosystem than what you find at The Lodge. Formed where the Cuero and the Salado rivers meet, this unique estuary system creates a special habitat for many species including the West Indian Manatee.
BOOK TODAY! Call us at 1 (512) 378-3355 or email jparker@JeffParkerImages.com
Your Tour Leader
Jeff Parker is equal parts nature-lover, photographer, teacher, adventurer and conservationist and has a strong affinity for the jungles and wildlife of Central America.
Jeff maintains a low-participant ratio so that you’ll leave with a deeper knowledge of your photography skills and the wildlife you’ve come to see. He makes time for one-on-one teaching and critiquing so that you can take full advantage of his expertise and experience. Be sure to bring your laptop for some digital darkroom work (Honduras uses 110v outlets).
Accompanying and assisting Jeff will be his wife, Mary O. Parker. Mary is a freelance writer and lecturer who brings a passion for the Honduran culture, its history and its people to the experience. Mary is bilingual (Spanish/English) and will be our translator, however, all staff at The Lodge at Pico Bonito are completely fluent in English.
BOOK TODAY! Call us at 1 (512) 378-3355 or email jparker@JeffParkerImages.com
Your Tour—Some Specifics
Please note: This is our estimated schedule and we’ll do our best to stick to this itinerary as much as possible, but certain conditions may necessitate changes. Good photographic experiences and plenty of chances to view wildlife will be our goals at all times.
DAY 1: Saturday, March 3, 2012
- Arrive San Pedro de Sula where you will be picked up by the hospitality van of The Lodge at Pico Bonito.
- We’ll have dinner together after everyone’s had a chance to rest and relax in their cabins for a little while
DAY 2: Sunday, March 4, 2012
- Early-bird hike (morning photo shoot)
- Evening photo shoot
- Workshop/instructional/critiquing time with Jeff
- Honduras – The Place and its People (casual lecture given by Jeff’s wife, Mary O. Parker)
- Other activities TBA
DAY 3: Monday, March 5, 2012
- Dawn photo shoot
- Evening photo shoot
- Workshop/instructional/critiquing time with Jeff
- Other activities TBA
DAY 4: Tuesday, March 6, 2012
- Today we take a trip to Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge. After an early breakfast, we’ll drive to the small village of La Union where we’ll board a single-car late nineteenth century narrow-gauge push-cart “train,” riding it through coconut and pineapple fields as we head into the marshes and mangrove-lined lagoons of the Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge on the Caribbean Coast.
- Once at the refuge, we’ll take a boat ride for lots of opportunities to see and photograph a variety of wildlife that reside in the brackish waters and vegetation. We’ll also head out to more open areas and try to spot one of the 50 elusive and endangered West Indian Manatees that find refuge here.
- Upon returning to The Lodge at Pico Bonito plan on doing a sunset photo shoot after a short rest in your cabin.
DAY 5: Wednesday, March 7, 2012
- Dawn photo shoot
- Evening photo shoot
- Workshop/instructional/critiquing time with Jeff
- Class: The Art of Nature Writing (given by Jeff’s wife, freelance writer, Mary O. Parker)
- Other activities TBA
DAY 6: Thursday, March 8, 2012
- Depart for San Pedro de Sula and your return flight home, after an early breakfast
What's Included?
The cost of this all-inclusive trip is $2497 per person. It includes all accommodations (double occupancy), all meals on Days 2-5, dinner on Day 1 and breakfast on Day 6, in-country transportation (including the boat ride at Cuero y Salado), and entry into Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge. Accommodations are two folks to a cabin, but if you would prefer to have your own cabin, the cost of a single supplement is $950.
Details: The non-refundable deposit for the tour is $500. Only six (6) spots are available for this tour and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. A cancellation penalty of 50% of all monies received will be assessed (less the non-refundable $500 deposit) for cancellations received 44-31 days (January 18-February 1, 2012) before our departure date. No monies will be refunded thirty (30) or less days before our departure date (after February 1, 2012 no monies will be refunded).
What’s NOT Included?
Travel to and from Honduras, fees for passports, visas, immunizations, insurance, airport taxes, surcharges, exit fees, tips for guides and wait staff, alcoholic beverages or other beverages not included with meals or accommodations, long distance phone calls, laundry, or any other items of a personal nature. In addition, the cost of hospitalization, medical services if needed, or expenses involved in evacuation would not be covered in the price of this tour.
We can't encourage you enough to tip wait staff and guides. By supporting locals in places like Honduras, tipping encourages conservation and makes sustainable industries such as ecotourism really work.
BOOK TODAY! Call us at 1 (512) 378-3355 or email jparker@JeffParkerImages.com