About Rockjumper
Our bird tour leaders are all passionate birders and accomplished tour coordinators who take great joy in sharing their birding experiences with others. Although many of our tours are guided by full time Rockjumper leaders, we also use some of the most accomplished regional leaders across the globe. This ensures that you always get the best possible guide for the tour of your choice. Whilst we therefore guarantee that our leaders have superb birding skills, we also understand that they need to be personable, professional, friendly, attentive and dedicated to delivering a rewarding, educational and enjoyable birding experience!
Our office team is based in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, and is highly proficient in orchestrating the complex arrangements that efficient and organized traveling requires. Questions are gladly answered in a friendly and comprehensive manner, and you will find that booking with us is nothing but a pleasure. We do our utmost to ensure that all your requirements and requests are met; whether before, during or after your tour with us.
Our tour costs and booking conditions represent excellent value for money and are very reasonable. Although we are not always the least expensive in the market, it is important to compare exactly what you are getting when dealing with low cost or local operators. In addition, the services of a professional tour leader can make or break your vacation, especially in remote countries where traveling provides additional challenges. Due to constantly fluctuating exchange rates, we now quote our tours in 4 currencies. The tour price is however fixed only in the currency printed in bold, and the actual cost in the other currencies listed will be adjusted according to prevailing exchange rates at the time of final invoicing. Approximate flight and single supplement (ss) rates have been converted to US$ for the purposes of this brochure but are also subject to exchange rate movements. Please note that even though domestic flight costs have been quoted separately, the Rockjumper office will still book these flights for you at no extra charge. Furthermore, our booking terms and conditions are among the fairest in the market. We accept payment by credit card, wire transfer and check in all major currencies.
Our leader to guest ratio is one of the best in the bird tour industry and most of our tours have a maximum of eight participants, giving our guests a very personalized tour experience. For some destinations, however, larger groups are necessary, and on these tours we provide two leaders with an absolute maximum of 14 participants. The only exception to this is on some ship cruises where larger groups are unavoidable.
Our scheduled tours are generally designed for the keen birder, though the pace varies from tour to tour. For example, our Cape Wildflowers, Birding & Big Game tour is a relaxed birding adventure with much time dedicated to exploring the tapestry of spectacular wildflowers that grace the Cape region of South Africa. On the other hand, our Kenya Mega tour is a more intense adventure suited to hardcore birders looking to increase their life lists. Nestling between these extremes fall the balance of our tours, which are designed to maximize the birding experience without feeling rushed. We also include the salient highlights of every region we visit, be it the Taj Mahal and Tigers in India, Jaguars and Giant Otters in Brazil, or the Sphinx and Pyramids in Egypt. Our Photographic and Mammal tours are however focused on these core aspects of each destination, rather than on birding per se.
The taxonomy and nomenclature we use is based on the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) list as published by Gill & Wright, and accepted by almost all ornithological councils and authorities. The IOC list is more regularly updated and is generally regarded as more scientifically accurate than any other world list. Our checklists detail deviations by other major world lists and fieldguides, and we are happy to provide checklists in advance of your tour. Mammal, reptile, amphibian and botanical names follow the leading reference works for the region concerned.
Our loyalty programme offers 10% discount (limited to US$600) on every 5th full (14-day or longer) tour booked with Rockjumper. We also give a US$300 discount to anyone who signs up for two back-to-back full Rockjumper tours (excluding Essential tours). This is designed to assist guests who wish to travel for longer periods and make the most of expensive flights to distant parts of the world.
Our conservation initiative includes activities undertaken by the Rockjumper Birding Conservation Fund. A proportion of the fees from each tour sign-up are used solely to conserve the birds that give our lives so much fulfillment and joy.
