Hi There has been a long time since my last newsletter, and I have made a lot of travel since. I have lots of news. There are also a bunch of upcoming trips that I want to tell you about. Additionally, my rock band Guran Guran has made several new releases, and I have run Comrades
Marathon (90 km) in South Africa.
Let this be a warning. This is not a newsletter only about birding but a little bit about what I have been up to the last couple of months. I will present it in sections so you can jump to the topics that interest you the most. Since it is a long newsletter, you may want to mark it and save it for later........ In this newsletter: - Gunnar's Got Talent! (Not birding!).
- Extraordinary last-minute Spain trip with Gunnar Oct 16-21.
- 2 spots left for Scandinavians to Chile for 16 days Oct 31-15.
- Madagascar. Finally getting
the trip up to the 7 Wonders Birding website.
- Uganda report
- Upcoming Peru trips
- Satipo road project update.
- Condor watching and Photography in Lima'
- Comrades Marathon and South Africa recce report
- Gunnar's
running plans.
- Japan 2023.
- ISMO - Finnish Comedian
Gunnar's Got Talent?Skip this if you are just interested in birds and nothing else.
As most of you know by now, I have a band called Guran Guran back in Sweden. Let me tell you how it all started.
I started singing in the Stockholm subway when I was 19. I was a pretty lousy guitar player, so instead of playing classic street music like House of the Rising Sun, Hey Mister Tambourine Man, and Stairway to Heaven, I wrote my own, simple, few-chord songs with Swedish lyrics meant to entertain, surprise, and/or outrage. Any way to get some attention! As a band, we recorded my songs until 1991 on self-released cassettes and distributed them at gigs or when I played in the subway. Between 1991-1998 I wrote a lot of songs, that were never recorded. So after having recorded Birdparty with my bandmate Gunnar Elvin 2016, we decided to put the band together again, and record my songs that never were recorded. To me personally it is part of who I am and to some extent my legacy. Even if it was way too late to become a
rocknroller at around 60, I was joking that it had to be done in this life, because next time around I probably have forgotten the lyrics.
Some 20 songs have been recorded since then. We are at the end of the project now with 7 songs to be released this year (four already released and three to go). Since 2017, when we finally got on Spotify and other
streaming services, fame and fortune have been missing. It is still very difficult to succeed in the music industry, but that was never a goal in itself anyway. It was just important to get it done as good as possible. Perhaps, at least some people would like it. We did have a have a huge success with my Rinkeby och Tensta song on YouTube, but the other
songs have not reached large audiencies, and hardly anyone had found us on Spotify.
This year with the new songs, however, things have started to become more interesting. About two weeks ago, I started a TikTok channel for Guran Guran. I was thinking it could be a way to incite people in Sweden to listen to our Spotify-channel. With a VPN connection, I could
simulate that the account was active in Sweden rather than Peru. It was slow to start with, but still far better response than, for instance, Facebook. After a few tries with clips from our music videos on YouTube, I released this cellphone video of me singing in the subway, that I previously had published on FB and which had been well received. It hit the ceiling! In 10 days, it has received 120 000 plays on TikTok. Additionally, there are hundreds of lovely and encouraging comments.
One commenter said that I have a good voice and that I ought to try out for Sweden Got Talent. Haha! That is about 30 years too late, I replied. You guessed right. I did look up the program called Talang in Sweden. I figured I wouldn't have a chance - therefore let's take it - and hence applied with the subway video and my life story above, as well as how I live my life as a birdwatching guide showing birders birds all over the world. They asked for other
facets of me and got it! It doesn't sound like classic rock star behavior, anyway.
Incredibly, I was selected. The initial programs will be filmed in front of a live audience on Oct 11 and televised in February 2023. I bought a flight ticket to Sweden on short notice.
If I go on to the semifinal, I will be flown to Sweden to participate live. The dates are
still to be programmed. Since I already got the ticket across the Atlantic covered, it means I can schedule an extraordinary Spain tour between Oct 15-21. (See below) If anyone is around Stockholm, apart from the contest on Oct 11, which is open to the public, there is also a Guran Guran concert at Restaurant Snövit on Oct 14. You are more than welcome. Let me know if you can make it or if you want to see
my TV performance live. Find and follow Guran Guran on these platforms. The videos usually contain captions in English that can be activated in settings. We would very much like to get at least 1000 followers on each platform. I have promised that we will make a vinyl LP once we reach that goal. Numbers in parentheses reflect subscribers or followers on each platform. Thank you for
following!
YouTube (598 subscribers) Facebook (830 followers) Facebook Group (287 members) TikTok (1023) Instagram (21 - recently started Guran Guran account) Twitter (5920 followers - my private account, both birds and music) Spotify (268)
Additionally, our entire catalog can be found on all the other streaming services for music such as Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music,
etc. Spain Oct 16-21, 2022We had an amazing week in Spain in May with brilliant views of Iberian Lynx, loads of raptors, Little and Great Bustard, and cultural visits to Toledo, Cordoba, and Alhambra outside of Granada, as well as excellent food and wine. Let's get a small group together while I am in Europe anyway. I'd love to show you my favorite part of Spain and which also was my first destination when I started working as a guide in 1987. Chile for Scandinavians. Oct 31 - Nov 15, 2022Might as well say this in Swedish. Gunnar guidar 10 svenskar i Chile i November. Det finns två platser över till förmånligt pris. Vi täcker hela landet från
Arica i norr till Eldslandet i söder. Hör av dig snarast om du är intresserad. Amigos Oct 8. Join from 4 to 8 days.Amigos is my favorite place to bird in the lowland Peruvian Amazon. The diversity of habitats is enormous. There is accessible Terra firme, varzea, floodplain forest, bamboo thickets, Moriche swamps, oxbow lakes, and Heliconia thickets, all traversed by an extensive
trail system. Some special birds include Black-faced Cotinga, Long-crested Pygmy-Tyrant, Rufous-fronted Ant-thrush, and one of the best places to see Pale-winged Trumpeter. Let me know if interested in a short tour like this. Just reply to this
email. Madagascar late November 2022.This weekend I intend to publish the program for Madagascar. The main tour shall run from November 27 to December 3. The purpose of the short core itinerary is to cover all Madagascar endemic bird families, and also visit two of the three major biomes of Madagascar.
Additionally, there is a fair chance to get Helmet Vanga, and several cool Ground-rollers. There is a pre-tour Berenty Nov 24-26 which has quite habituated lemurs for a close-up experience. Berenty is quite pricey, so it is not a budget trip. Post tour 1. Dec 4-6. Three additional days include an additional day in the Andasibe area and a visit to Palmarum where the key target is the cute Aye-Aye. Another three days Dec 7-9 can be added to bird dry forest and wetlands at Ankarafantsika. Post tour 2. Dec 9-15. A full week for the crazy hardcore trip for Madagascar Pochard, Madagascar Serpent-Eagle, and Rufous Owl, etc in Bemanevika as told by Ken Behrens in Episode 19 of Naturally Adventurous. Please, get back to me immediately if interested in any of these trips to be able to price it adequately. And also to check on availability, especially for Berenty and Palmarum. Uganda tripI recently led the first 7 Wonders Birding Tour to Uganda. It was an amazing experience with Shoebill, Gorillas, and Chimps. Ian Reid has compiled a great trip report from the trip in two parts. I am sure you will enjoy the report as much as I did when reliving the
memories. Part 3 is not yet published. Having this extended itinerary got me a good base on how to set up our next minimalist Uganda Birding trip. To keep it short and sweet for birder/non-birder
couples or even families our core trip will be 7 days including arrival day and departure day (in the evening). We shall use domestic flights to fly back after seeing the gorillas. The core tour will also stay one night in Queen Elizabeth National Park for some classic wildlife, including tree-climbing lions. Then more keen birders will carry on and add a
5-day program to get back to Entebbe and include more birding in Bwindi and Ruhija of the Impenetrable Forest Reserve, where most Albertine rift endemics are found, as well as the sites of Mgahinga and Mburo. The latter section will be more classic birdwatching from dawn to dusk. I have yet not scheduled our second Uganda trip, so if interested to schedule
one for yourself, send me a line and I get on rewriting the program reflecting the above. Upcoming Peru trips.Here are the dates for confirmed Peru itineraries you may consider. Or check out the
programs and sign up for a customized itinerary. Satipo road update.Great news. We have now made a deal with the community at Calabazas on Satipo road to lease and manage the building that had been set off for eco-tourism. There are many improvements already done. Room separations have been built, and next week we start building a toilet/shower
module in connection. We are very thankful to everyone who has supported the project so far. THANK YOU! Additional improvements are to be made, so it is still possible to support the project financially. Check out how in
the project description. You should also start planning your Central Peru trip and include Satipo road. It is one of the best birding areas in Peru and it has
several new species described from the area, and a couple of new species to science still not yet published. The general birding is second to none with many of the same species one finds on the Manu road. We have also found a nest of Amazonian Umbrellabird and added a range extension of Mountain Avocetbill. Check the Kolibri Expeditions calendar for upcoming
Central Peru trips, or schedule your own. Here are some itineraries that contain Satipo road. Volunteer with Kolibri Expeditions. For those with lots of
time and limited budget, who want to bird a lot for little money, and perhaps train with us to become future guides, we offer programs of minimum 3 weeks at the time at only US$40/day against helping out with our Satipo road project as well as the condor-watching project. Spread the word! Condor watching and photography in Santa Eulalia Canyon.Our condor photography hides are ready to be used. The condors have been habituated to coming to the feeding station. For the rest of the year, we offer condor photography at the hides for only $100 per person per sitting. Max 4
people. This is to be paid on top of the cost of the excursion to Santa Eulalia and the overnight. We shall also provide an opportunity to photograph condors in flight at close range.... With the help of volunteers, we
also wish to set up feeders for hummingbirds and seed-eating birds near Huachupampa very soon. It would be fantastic to get Rufous-breasted Warbling-Finch and Bronze-tailed Comet coming to feeders for example. Comrades Marathon and South Africa scouting trip.As you learned in the last newsletter I had signed up for the brutal 90 km long Comrades Marathon, which this year went down from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. It said down, but I swear, there were a lot of uphills. I had wanted to train much more, but because of all my traveling, as well as a long period of illness... possibly COVID..., I had not done a whole lot of training. My longest two runs were 41K when I was in Sweden in July, and a 51K run in early August, three weeks before the race on Aug 28. I finished at 11 hours and 23 minutes. The time is not particularly good compared to what I am used to but with such little preparation, I was very pleased with the result to be able to finish. Crossing the finish line in this epic race was one of the happiest moments in my life.
I was on pace for a sub-10 h run, until km 50. But a few instances of cramps and a toilet stop made me lose time.
In the end, partly because I was afraid to get cramps again, I slowed down and walked more and more. But I was determined to finish. I would run 800m and walk 200m, and then repeat. It worked!
At km 80, with 10 km to go, I had well over two hours left to finish. Continuing the same run/walk pattern, there should be no problems. I could walk the remainder and still end up with a sub 12h which was the cut-off
time. I also managed to do a substantial amount of birding, even though I traveled with my non-birding spouse. I mean, she enjoys the outdoors, and the game-rides and hides we did, but she'd remain in the car reading while I walk off looking for Botha's Lark. I
managed to cover pretty much all the areas of our 7 Wonders Birding South Africa itineraries. The main itinerary concentrate on seeing Aardvark and other animals during night drives, as well as birds during the day near Kimberley. I also checked out all areas for a
forthcoming itinerary that includes classic South African endemics haunts such as Wakkerstroom and Sani Pass, but also makes it a point that we visit two additional countries with Lesotho and Swaziland (Eswatini). (Any country-listers out there?). I have not scheduled yet when to return to South Africa in 2023 or 2024, but if anyone is interested in scheduling a trip, let me know! Any of the two
itineraries could be ideal for anyone with very little time. We could certainly also offer birding around Cape Town and Kruger NP for those who have more time and want the itineraries back to back. My running plans.One big final effort to break 3h in a marathon. Need to put the bar high. I will have a go the third week of April. It gives me a lot of time to prepare, but of course, while traveling I don't get much training done. Between mid-December (if Madagascar runs) and April, there will be a
lot of very hard training. The only breaks will be a private trip to Bhutan in January (where I should be able to fit in a few runs to maintain) and likely Japan first week of March (see below). I could certainly do private guiding during this time if a runner-birder wants to train during a birdwatching trip. Also, note that the Japan trip runs just before
Tokyo Marathon, so if you know any birder runner who is running Tokyo Marathon, this trip would be perfect timewise (see below). So which Marathon is the big Sub 3h intent? As I would love to be able also to complete my last of the Marathon Majors, which is the London Marathon, I hope I get in via the lottery. The race is on April 23. London Marathon is
known for being very flat and fast. The Ballot entry starts on Oct 1. It will take a couple of months before one gets the results whether one has been accepted or not. If I don't get in via the ballot, I will postpone London to 2024 and instead run Boston Marathon on April 17. I already paid for the entry, so a spot is guaranteed. Boston is overall a
downhill race, so one can do good times there, but the weather conditions can be quite poor with heavy wind. I did 3:17 in Boston in 2015. It would be great to do a meet-up if you are close to any of these cities. What if I fail running a Sub-3 hour Marathon? If I am
reasonably close to below 3h, there is either Valencia Marathon in December on a very flat course or I may enter a downhill marathon (yes, it is cheating somewhat, but it is still 42.195 km) in the US in the fall. I did a downhill Marathon in 2016 in 3:04, so it was quite close. Time will tell, one is not getting any younger, but I know I can always train
harder. |
Japan 2023.The last trip I guided, before the pandemic lockdowns, was in Japan in early March 2020. So three years later I hope to be back for my fifth trip to Japan. While our 7-day core trip concentrates on the most iconic Japanese birds such as Stellar's Eagle, Red-crowned Crane, and Blakiston's
Fish-Owl. We also offer various short extensions so you can complete a full two weeks or perhaps 9-11 days depending on which extensions you take. The core tour starts on Feb 26. As mentioned above, do spread the
word to any runner-birder who has signed up to run Tokyo Marathon. This is a great way to taper training before the race. ISMO - The Finnish ComedianTo finish off this newsletter I am sharing a clip from a Finnish Stand-up comedian which I quite recently discovered. This clip is 4 years old, but I am a bit slow.Anyway, here is ISMO. Check out his other clips in English
on his YouTube Channel. Absolutely brilliant stuff there. Have a great birding weekend.
Gunnar PS. Last minute Amigos from Oct 8. Join from 4 to 8 days. Amigos is my favorite place to bird in the lowland Peruvian Amazon. The diversity of habitats is enormous. There is accessible Terra firme, varzea, floodplain forest, bamboo thickets, Moriche swamps,
oxbow lakes, and Heliconia thickets, all traversed by an extensive trail system. Some special birds include Black-faced Cotinga, Long-crested Pygmy-Tyrant, Rufous-fronted Ant-thrush, and one of the best places to see Pale-winged Trumpeter. Let me know if interested in a short notice tour like this. Just reply to this email. Gunnar Engblom is a Swedish birder who lives in Peru since 1998, where he operates birdwatching and nature tours for Kolibri Expeditions. He is a popular guide both for hard core birding groups, as well as for groups who combine photography, nature and/or culture.
He is also a keen runner training to run a marathon in less than
3 hours. Best time so far when 21 years of age in 3:00:32. Second best at 56 years old in 2016 in 3:04:14. For 2022, and turning 62 years old he is aiming for a sub 3 hour marathon. Perhaps in London in April, 2023.
Gunnar also write and sings Swedish punk/eco-rock songs with humor and ironic twist. In 2016 he put his old band Guran Guran back together. The song Rinkeby och Tensta has over 362 000 views on YouTube. https://youtu.be/NJ0Nr3OxCVI
If you like fewer messages and have more interest in the shorter trips around the world with 7 Wonders Birding, just let me know replying to this email, and I will change your subscription.
Connect with Gunnar on social Media as @Kolibrix on Twitter and @BirdingPeru on Instagram. Whatsapp: +51 988 555 938 |
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