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Rating: 
Summary: Bali Bird Walks
Review: A knowledgeable naturalist, experienced guide, and birding expert, British expatriate Victor Mason takes you on a congenial, witty, horticultural walkabout off the beaten track on Bali. Starting out at the Beggar's Bush Restaurant above Campuhan Bridge (home of Mason's Bali Bird Club), he hikes with you through the cultivated rice fields to see otters, civets, macaques, egrets, kingfishers, lychee and tamarind trees, white Brahmin cattle in Taro, giant banyan trees, butterflies, and clove and vanilla plantations. Mason gives you a friendly, conversational, step-by-step tour-from ravine to ridge to individual hibiscus blossom-complete with historical and cultural commentary on the terrain, temples, monuments, and countryside that he knows so well and loves so much.
Having spent the last twenty-six years on Bali, Victor Mason meticulously covers every cart and goat track within an eight-kilometer radius of foliage-rich Ubud. He will lead you down rocky steps to spring-fed watering places, secret gardens, Gunung Agung ("soaring to the ether and wreathed in vaporous wisps"), groves of sago palms, swimming in the Ayung River, and into the sacred simian stronghold of the Sangeh monkey forest. He lays out a variety of itineraries, graded according to difficulty, and offers timely tips (travel light, bring a sarong and a sash for entering temples--plus bathers for your swim-and beware the armies of stinging red tree ants!). Bali Bird Walks is designed as a practical, how-to, destination companion: long, thin, and light (8 ½" by 5"), the book is shaped for easy insertion into purse or backpack. Lavishly and colorfully illustrated-and buttressed throughout with detailed maps-you cannot lose your way. Most of the self-guided walking tours are circular and will return you to Campuhan Bridge-happy, inspired, and full of Mason's entertaining, old-school British, anecdotal bird stories.
For those of you lucky enough to find Victor Mason in residence on the island and available to lead you on one of his tours in person, you can book his "Bali Bird Walk" through Sobek Tours at 975009 or 287059 (or directly through the staff at the Beggar's Bush Restaurant). The four-hour tours begin at 8:45 A.M. and cost $47 per person including a fresh coconut break and a delicious lunch: intrepid trail guests/budding ornithologists will also be provided with a bird-spotting list and binoculars. For armchair nature enthusiasts who would prefer not to brave bamboo bridges, rushing white waters, and scrambling monkeys face to face, Bali Bird Walks takes your imagination where your feet are not yet willing to tread. The book is a total delight-it puts you right outside in the warm sunshine and brilliant, lime-green young "sawah" with invaluable Victor Mason right by your side!
Rating:
Summary: Bali Bird Walks
Review: A knowledgeable naturalist, experienced guide, and birding expert, British expatriate Victor Mason takes you on a congenial, witty, horticultural walkabout off the beaten track on Bali. Starting out at the Beggar's Bush Restaurant above Campuhan Bridge (home of Mason's Bali Bird Club), he hikes with you through the cultivated rice fields to see otters, civets, macaques, egrets, kingfishers, lychee and tamarind trees, white Brahmin cattle in Taro, giant banyan trees, butterflies, and clove and vanilla plantations. Mason gives you a friendly, conversational, step-by-step tour-from ravine to ridge to individual hibiscus blossom-complete with historical and cultural commentary on the terrain, temples, monuments, and countryside that he knows so well and loves so much.
Having spent the last twenty-six years on Bali, Victor Mason meticulously covers every cart and goat track within an eight-kilometer radius of foliage-rich Ubud. He will lead you down rocky steps to spring-fed watering places, secret gardens, Gunung Agung ("soaring to the ether and wreathed in vaporous wisps"), groves of sago palms, swimming in the Ayung River, and into the sacred simian stronghold of the Sangeh monkey forest. He lays out a variety of itineraries, graded according to difficulty, and offers timely tips (travel light, bring a sarong and a sash for entering temples--plus bathers for your swim-and beware the armies of stinging red tree ants!). Bali Bird Walks is designed as a practical, how-to, destination companion: long, thin, and light (8 ½" by 5"), the book is shaped for easy insertion into purse or backpack. Lavishly and colorfully illustrated-and buttressed throughout with detailed maps-you cannot lose your way. Most of the self-guided walking tours are circular and will return you to Campuhan Bridge-happy, inspired, and full of Mason's entertaining, old-school British, anecdotal bird stories.
For those of you lucky enough to find Victor Mason in residence on the island and available to lead you on one of his tours in person, you can book his "Bali Bird Walk" through Sobek Tours at 975009 or 287059 (or directly through the staff at the Beggar's Bush Restaurant). The four-hour tours begin at 8:45 A.M. and cost $47 per person including a fresh coconut break and a delicious lunch: intrepid trail guests/budding ornithologists will also be provided with a bird-spotting list and binoculars. For armchair nature enthusiasts who would prefer not to brave bamboo bridges, rushing white waters, and scrambling monkeys face to face, Bali Bird Walks takes your imagination where your feet are not yet willing to tread. The book is a total delight-it puts you right outside in the warm sunshine and brilliant, lime-green young "sawah" with invaluable Victor Mason right by your side!
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