Costa del Azahar – The main travel hub of this region is Valencia with city’s airport enjoying direct UK flights. To access rest of region you can take advantage of RENFE services from Valencia or enjoy city via FGV trams and underground trains. If you want to travel from coast to Madrid take N430 and A3; to explore coast take A7. Again, Eurolines coaches operate connections to towns and cities in this region including Valencia, Sagunt and Vinaros. And last but not least, Valencia is a port city and has ferries running across Mediterranean with destinations including Malta, Ibiza, Italy etc.

Costa Blanca – Most visitors for this region enter via Alicante airport. With Costa Brava well serviced by roads and Alicante airport offering great car hire opportunities many people prefer to access rest of region by road, though RENFE, Eurolines and Alsa offer excellent rail and coach alternatives.

Costa Calida – Murcia is main airport for this region, though Alicante airport is also accessible affording visitors and residents an extra opportunity and advantage. From Murcia there are a number of major train services including direct links to Madrid. In terms of roads, again Costa Calida is a region with an excellent network of major roads and routes: N340 runs from Alicante through Murcia to Costa del Sol, A7 hugs coast and local, national and international coach lines service area. In port town of Cartagena a passenger terminal was built in 2003 which now serves as a destination for some of major cruise liners on their way to and from destinations around France, Greece and Black Sea Coast.

Costa de Almeria – You’re spoilt for choice when it comes to airports serving this region, you can fly to Alicante or Murcia and travel by road or rail into region or you can fly direct to Almeria airport. The cheapest flights are often to Alicante. RENFE have mainline train services from Almeria to city of Granada, Eurolines, Alsa and Enatcar all offer coach services across Costa de Almeria. The major routes in region are N340 which runs from Costa Calida through town of Almeria and on south to Costa del Sol, A92 which connects with Granada and A348 which connects Almeria with Alpujarras. In terms of sea access, Transmediterranea have ferries from port of Almeria to Northern Africa.

Costa del Sol and Andalucia – If you can’t get a flight to this region of Spain you must be doing something wrong – or maybe just hoping to travel during peak season! The main airport is Malaga and nearly every single airline you can think of flies from almost every single UK and US airport you can think of! If you can’t get a flight and you’re in UK you might consider driving to Costa del Sol! In which case your best bet would be to sail from Plymouth to Santander or from Portsmouth to Bilbao and then travel 900 or so kilometres south. If you start off in Bilbao you’ll need A68 and A1 to Burgos, or from Santander take N623 to Burgos – then from Burgos travel via N1 to Madrid. From Madrid head to Granada, from Granada head for Malaga…phew! Alternatively get a Euroline coach all way from UK to Estepona or Malaga or travel from Paris on fast night train to Madrid and connect with AVE fast train to Cordoba which in turn connects up with regional Costa del Sol services.

Costa de la Luz and Gibraltar – You can either fly to Gibraltar or Jerez in region or make use of many cheap flights to Spain that land in Malaga. There are ferry services between Tarifa and Algeciras in Spain and Tangiers in Morocco, bus and rail services across Europe and through Spain to Costa de la Luz and strong road links with E15 serving Gibraltar from mainland.

Whatever your final destination you should be able to find cheap flights to some of Spain’s main airports and then use local and regional travel services to access your destination of choice; as I hope I’ve shown, whole of Spain is incredibly easily accessible.

Promising areas include various bird hides designed specifically for birding and especially picnic sites in area that attracts birds for obvious reasons.

Tips To Point You In The Right Direction

The Kori Bustard is strictly terrestrial and prefers wooded grassland areas and dry savannas; its feeding time is in early mornings making it best time to see one.

The Martial eagle is largest of African eagles and is found throughout African savanna, in any type of terrain from mountains to flat plains, edge of deserts to wooded country. This bird has been known to take down whole impala.

The Saddle-billed Stork can normally found near rivers. Look for their large stick nests in tops of tall trees.

The Lappet-faced Vulture also resides in stick nests located at top of short trees. They prefer open, arid habitats. They can be found fighting over bones near site of a kill.

The Ground Hornbill prefers steppes and savannas with fairly low grass growth, which makes their search for food easier. They have very large territories of about 100 sq. kilometers.

The Pel’s Fishing Owl is rarest sighting of all because of its nocturnal habits and restriction to large watercourses. A good time to catch this one is during night, preferably on a night drive. As you know, they are fishing owls so near water is best place to start looking.

The birds mentioned above are easy to identify but are by no means least of birds you will encounter in Timbavati Game Reserve. More than 500 hundred species offer discerning eye of an ornithologist and a layman alike. Enjoy sights and sounds of a Birding Safari in Timbavati. It’s worth coming here just for birdlife.