General Tour Information
ENTERING AND LEAVING VENEZUELA: Citizens of the United States and Canada do not need visas. Every visitor must have a valid passport. Please note that your passport must be valid for more than six months after you are scheduled to leave Venezuela. Tourist cards will be issued by the airline on which you arrive.
VENEZUELA MAP AND COUNTRY INFORMATION: You can view maps of Venezuela in the University of Texas series here. You can review the U.S. Department of State background notes on Venezuela here.
HEALTH: Malaria prophylaxis is suggested. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommend that travelers to Venezuela take one of the following drugs: mefloquine (brand name Lariam®), doxycycline, or Malarone. Please check with your physician to determine which anti-malarial drug is best for you. Please remember that many anti-malarial drugs must be initiated one or more weeks before the period of exposure, and continued for several weeks after it concludes.
No vaccinations certificates are necessary in order to enter Venezuela. The Centers for Disease Control currently recommend the following vaccines (see your doctor at least 4-6 weeks before your trip to allow time for immunizations to take effect): Hepatitis A or immune globulin (IG); typhoid; and yellow fever vaccination, since you will be traveling outside urban areas. As needed, it is also recommended that you get booster shots for tetanus-diphtheria and measles. . You can review the CDC latest advisories here.
Biting insects are not numerous although mosquitoes, black flies and chiggers occur locally.
CLIMATE: Venezuela’s dry season lasts from October to April. Temperatures at Junglaven Camp can range into the 90’s (°F) and humidity can be high. We will usually avoid the worst of the heat by taking afternoon siestas. We may encounter occasional rain showers at Junglaven, and since birding is often excellent under these conditions, you should come prepared to be outdoors when it is damp. In the event of rain, an umbrella can be your second most important birding tool - it is no fun birding through wet binoculars.
ALTITUDE: During most of the tour we remain at relatively low altitudes (below 5,000 feet). On one day during the Andes week we drive up high into the mountains (over 12,000 feet) and there is a small risk of altitude sickness. This can normally be avoided by sitting quietly in or near the vehicles, but anyone who has suffered seriously from altitude sickness in the past may want to consider the wisdom of visiting the High Andes.
PACE OF TOUR AND DAILY ROUTINE: As much of this tour is in the tropical lowlands where temperatures are often high and bird activity much greater in the early morning, we’ll make early starts most days so as to be in the field from dawn. In most areas we’ll be birding all day, usually returning to our lodging about an hour before dinner and checklist. In very hot areas we’ll take a break after lunch, venturing out again in mid to late afternoon once it has cooled down a bit. In some areas we’ll have early pre-dawn breakfasts in our hotel or lodge, in others we’ll take a picnic breakfast with us. Lunches will vary - sometimes picnics and sometimes sit-down meals at our lodgings. All dinners will be at our hotel or lodge.
The birding at Junglaven is done primarily on foot along jeep tracks and trails or from small dugout canoes along river tributaries. The terrain is basically flat and it is usually dry under foot. We will spend up to six hours each morning and also several hours in the late afternoon walking the tracks and trails in the forest surrounding the lodge. We’ll take an occasional morning or afternoon boat trip that may last for several hours. In one or two spots it might be necessary to step out of the boat into shallow water. We will have a siesta after lunch each day, when the temperature is highest and the birds are the least active. All our meals will be taken at the camp. Our final night will be spent in a comfortable hotel in the Coastal Range. Here we will be birding along quiet back-roads and all our meals will be taken at our hotel or in a nearby restaurant.
ACCOMMODATION: During the Amazon week (Junglaven Jungle Camp), we will be based at a remote rainforest lodge with accommodation in two-bedded cabins which have private bathrooms with cold water showers and flush toilets. Although basic, they are fairly comfortable and built in the tradition of the local people so as to allow maximum ventilation through the use of high thatched roofs and fine-mesh screening around the upper areas of the cabins. Electricity is supplied by a generator that is on from about 5:00 am to mid-morning and from dusk to around 10:00 pm. Contact between the Lodge and the rest of the word is by radio. Due to the need to schedule charter flights in advance, it could take as much as a day to reach the nearest hospital in the event of a medical emergency. Our night at Colonia Tovar will be spent in a comfortable hotel with private facilities in each room.
TRANSPORT: We’ll travel to Junglaven by scheduled flight from Caracas, followed by a charter flight. The charter flight will be aboard a six-passenger single-engine Cessna aircraft. While at the camp, we will travel by motorised boats and on foot. We’ll also be transported occasionally in the back of the camp’s Toyota jeep / pick-up.
DRESS: Dress will be informal throughout the tour. The Venezuelan people tend to dress very smartly, especially when going out to dinner, so shorts are not appropriate in hotel restaurants in the evenings.
SMOKING: Smoking is not allowed in the vehicles or when the group is gathered for meals, checklists, etc. If you are sharing a room with a non-smoker, please do not smoke in the room. If you smoke in the field, we ask that you do so well away and downwind from the group.
GENERAL INFORMATION & CONDITIONS OF WINGS & SUNBIRD TOURS: Please take a moment to read the WINGS General Information & Conditions. This section contains important information about how we conduct tours, e.g., what is included in the tour price, refund and cancellation policies, pace of the tours and other information that will help you prepare for the tour.
FINAL INFORMATION: A more complete General Information for Tours to Venezuela will be sent to each registrant on receipt of their booking. Final information with instructions for meeting the group, hotel addresses, etc., will be mailed about three weeks before trip departure. Other news will be communicated as necessary.
Updated: May 2007