Tour
Planning
Guide
Lucifer Hummingbird © Oscar Carmona
This guide walks you through the full process of joining one of our tours — from exploring your options to receiving your final travel notes. Our goal is to make everything clear, predictable, and easy, so you always know what to expect.
1. Explore Our Scheduled Tours
Explore our available tours to find the tour that interests you. Each tour page includes: tour overview, itinerary, highlights, what to expect, difficulty and pace of the tour, pricing, what's included, and tour leader. If you are unsure which tour is right for you, we are always happy to help you choose.
2. Reserve Your Spot
When you are ready, click "Reserve This Tour" on the tour page. Completing a Reservation Form gives us the details we need to review your request and hold your spot on the tour.
3. Receive Your Invoice
After we review your reservation, you’ll receive an invoice by email. Your invoice will include: total tour cost, deposit amount, payment schedule, due dates, and accepted payment methods. Your reservation becomes official once your deposit or full payment is received.
4. Receive Reservation Confirmation
Once your forms are submitted and payment is complete, you receive an email confirming your reservation. This email will also include: a pre-tour information package, a pre-tour survey, and the tour itinerary.
5. Receive Tour Confirmation and Final Invoice
You will receive an email confirming the tour as soon as the tour's minimum number of participants has been met. Final invoices are issued after the tour confirms or according to the payment timeline for that particular destination.
6. Flights & Other Travel Arrangements
We ask that you wait to book flights or make other travel arrangements until the tour is confirmed. We highly recommend purchasing flexible, refundable flights if you decide to book your flights before you receive our tour confirmation email.
7. Receive Final Tour Details
A few weeks before your tour, you will receive a final information package email including the meeting point, a participant list, changes to itinerary (if any), lodging details, and any other relevant information before your tour departure.
8. Enjoy Your Tour
Focus on enjoying the birds, nature, and regional highlights of your tour destination.
9. After the Tour
A final tour summary will be emailed after the tour has concluded and as soon as the tour leader provides a trip report. You will also receive a post-tour survey. Feedback is essential to us! It helps us continue to provide exceptional birding experiences.