COUNTRY STATS:
MALAYSIA (part one):
I've been to Malaysia a number of times, and I could keep going back. There is so much wildlife there, especially in Borneo, although most of what I see are species I've already seen. I would always recommend Malaysia as a good destination for wildlife-enthusiasts.
*1192.10 Ringgits spent over eleven days (NZ$397.50, US$284.85, UK£232.90, €261.70)
*Average spent per day: NZ$36.10, US$25.90, UK£21.20, €23.80
*114 birds seen, 2 lifers (c.2 percent of total)
*23 mammals seen, 2 lifers (c.9 percent of total)
INDIA (part one):
I really enjoyed the first round of India. It was mostly spent in Ladakh, which I loved. There's something about wandering around in the mountains alone which is just fantastic. Delhi was okay - I didn't hate it.
*43,068 Indian rupees spent over 25 days (NZ$896, US$635.50, UK£507.50, €590.50)
*Average spent per day: NZ$35.80, US$25.40, UK£20.30, €23.60
*95 birds seen, 14 lifers (c.15 percent of total)
*9 mammals seen, 4 lifers (c.44 percent of total)
(The low animal numbers are because most of the time was spent in Ladakh)
SRI LANKA:
I loved Sri Lanka. Wow, it was a fantastic place for wildlife. The people were all friendly, the animals often easy to find, the travel conditions good. There were some species I missed like sloth bears which I was hoping for but I'm not complaining. Strangely I don't have any great desire to go back there, unlike many of the places I've been in southeast Asia. I think I got all I needed from Sri Lanka. I would totally recommend it to everyone else though.
*87,626 Sri Lankan rupees spent over 26 days (NZ$829.60, US$594.45, UK£470.75, €561.10)
*Average spent per day: NZ$31.90, US$22.85, UK£18.10, €21.60
*158 birds seen, 64 lifers (c.40 percent of total)
*25 mammals seen, 18 lifers (c.72 percent of total)
INDIA (part two):
Round two of India was a real mixed bag. Demonetisation really impacted on the trip, making it much more frustrating than it might otherwise have been. But it did mean that Sri Lanka got inserted into the plan, and I can't complain about that! Some parts of India I loved or liked, other parts not so much. I loved Ladakh which is Tibetan; I liked Kerala which is more like Sri Lanka; I liked Gujarat which is not proper India either. The rest of it was tolerable. I can't see me going back to India. I knew going in that I'd go one of two ways, either leaving thinking it was great or leaving thinking it was horrible. I would like to go back to Ladakh in the spring or summer, because then it is easier to get around to more places and I could see some cool species like kiang, but at that time of year it is also absolutely crawling with other tourists and I think that would ruin it for me. I wouldn't mind returning to Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat either. Really, though, I'm just a southeast Asia person rather than a southern Asia person.
*101,187 Indian rupees spent over 55 days (NZ$2110, US$1513.30, UK£1214.70, €1431)
*Average spent per day: NZ$38.40, US$27.50, UK£22.10, €26
*312 birds seen, 89 lifers (c.28 percent of total)
*38 mammals seen, 18 lifers (c.47 percent of total)
THAILAND (part one):
Like Malaysia, Thailand is a great destination. I've been there several times and visited many of the national parks. This visit I specifically went to Kaeng Krachan again, but otherwise I was just passing through en route to Cambodia and Vietnam.
*9729 Baht spent over fourteen days (NZ$387, US$278, UK£224, €261.90)
*Average spent per day: NZ$27.60, US$19.85, UK£16, €18.70
*108 birds seen, 4 lifers (c.4 percent of total)
*18 mammals seen, 2 lifers (c.11 percent of total)
CAMBODIA:
Really just a transit-country on my way to Vietnam. I do like Cambodia but it is much more expensive than the surrounding countries, probably entirely due to the use of the American dollar, and there is precious little wildlife left even in the national parks and reserves. And some of those reserves, especially in the west, are incredibly expensive to visit. I only went to three actual wildlife spots (Kampi, Bokor National Park, and Kep National Park).
*US$469 spent over ten days (NZ$651.20, UK£377.50, €442.70) [Without the visa costs: US$384, NZ$533.20, UK£309.10, €362.50]
*Average spent per day: NZ$65.10, US$46.90, UK£37.75, €44.30 [Without the visa costs: US$38.40, NZ$53.30, UK£30.90, €36.25 ]
*63 birds seen, 1 lifer (c.1.6 percent of total)
*5 mammals seen, 1 lifer (c.20 percent of total)
VIETNAM:
Overall, I loved Vietnam. This visit went rather better than the last trip (2015) in terms of actually finding animals. There were species I missed, of course, and some that I just didn't even bother looking for, but I saw a lot of the ones I was after and I got to visit most of the places I wanted to. I'm not sure when or if I'll be back because, like Sri Lanka, I feel like I covered enough ground to consider it "done". If I was to go back it would be for Grey-shanked Doucs.
*36,439,000 Dong spent over 77 days (NZ$2324, US$1606, UK£1243, €1463)
*Average spent per day: NZ$30.20, US$20.85, UK£16.15, €19
*259 birds seen, 42 lifers (c.16 percent of total)
*33 mammals seen, 10 lifers (c.30 percent of total)
THAILAND (part two):
I didn't get up to much during part two of Thailand, although I was there for two weeks. I went to a few zoos, tried out Pang Sida National Park for the first time - didn't see much - and that's about it. The bill still managed to rack up though.
*10,000 Baht spent over 13 days (NZ$413, US$292.80, UK£227.60, €261.90)
*Average spent per day: NZ$31.80, US$22.50, UK£17.50, €20.10
*64 birds seen, 2 lifers (c.3 percent of total)
*8 mammals seen, 0 lifers (0 percent of total)
MALAYSIA (part two):
As with Thailand, really just a short wander on my way home. I was running low on money so thought I should stop, but Taman Negara made a handy cheap place to extend the trip a bit longer. The ten days in Taman Negara averaged out at about NZ$19 a day, but for the whole 17 days in Malaysia the average came out quite a bit higher because I was going around zoos and what-not.
*1430.95 Ringgits spent over 17 days (NZ$461.20, US$333.60, UK£264.20, €299.60)
*Average spent per day: NZ$27.10, US$19.60, UK£15.50, €17.60
*96 birds seen, 6 lifers (c.6 percent of total)
*18 mammals seen, 0 lifers (0 percent of total)
.........................................................
And a total for the trip:
The money totals aren't as exact as they might appear because exchange rates fluctuate constantly. I'll usually work the costs out as I go, but for the overall totals for a country I just put the whole amount into XE and see what it comes out at. And for the below costs I've just added up all the NZ$ from the preceding country totals, and then converted that into the other Western currencies. Also there may be flights, visas etc which aren't included (sometimes I add them in and sometimes I don't).
*NZ$8469.50 spent over 248 days (US$6123, UK£4849.90, €5499.70)
*Average spent per day: NZ$34.15, US$24.70, UK£19.55, €22.20
Bird and Mammal species
*705 birds seen, 228 lifers (c.32 percent of total)
*116 mammals seen, 55 lifers (c.47 percent of total)
