Birding and Nature near Kusadasi -- any flexible guides?

[whale-watcher]

We will be cruising the Eastern Med on a Holy Land itinerary this fall, and would like to combine birding/enjoying nature with visits to the more typical toursit sites.

 

Has anyone on this forum had any experience with birding in and around Kusadasi/Ephesus? There are supposed to be some excellent locations, but the guides that I have been in contact with seem to want us to stick to the typical tourist routes only (with shopping and lunch;))

 

Also, we would appreciate information about any guides who have been willing to be more flexible in their itineraries:)

 

We will also be doing this in northern Israel as well, but have contacts there already.

 

Thanks!

[CoralReef]

You could try Mesut Yilmaz at www dot mesutyilmaz dot org.

 

We toured with him, and he was completely flexible. He gave some suggestions of places he thought we'd enjoy based on our interests (adding some I hadn't thought of), but the itinerary was completely up to us.

 

I don't know if he has birding expertise, but he does enjoy the natural wonders of Turkey, and is knowledgeable about the historical sites. I'm sure that if you have a list of birding sites, he would be open to including them in a tour.

[whale-watcher]

Thank you so much...I will contact him!

[whale-watcher]

You could try Mesut Yilmaz at www dot mesutyilmaz dot org.

 

We toured with him, and he was completely flexible. He gave some suggestions of places he thought we'd enjoy based on our interests (adding some I hadn't thought of), but the itinerary was completely up to us.

 

I don't know if he has birding expertise, but he does enjoy the natural wonders of Turkey, and is knowledgeable about the historical sites. I'm sure that if you have a list of birding sites, he would be open to including them in a tour.

unfortunately he is booked for the day we will be in port...but we are on his wait list:)

[whale-watcher]

We are thinking of booking with Levent Solmaz; anyone have any recent experiences to report with this guide?