Day 1: Departure – Arrival in Changsha, China

Morning: Arrive in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province. Check into your hotel.

Afternoon: Visit Yuelu Mountain with its extensive woodlands and thousand-year-old Confucian Academy. There’s great birdwatching here in the late afternoon. Look out for Dark-sided Fly-catchers, Oriental Turtle Dove, White-throated and Greater Necklaced Laughing thrushes, Yellow-bellied Tits, Chestnut and Mountain Bulbuls, and Red-billed Starlings. Finish with wonderful views of Changsha from the Yunlu peak.

Evening: Enjoy a dinner cruise on the Xiangjiang River and see the astonishing city light show – with colours shimmering across the skyline and giant figures leaping from one building to another.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

Day 2: Changsha to Zhangjiajie

Morning: Travel to Zhangjiajie by bullet train. Check into your hotel in the heart of the Zhangjiajie countryside. To maximise your chances of seeing birds and wildlife, be sure to visit off season when crowds are thinnest and on a weekday.

Afternoon: Visit Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, your first venture into the astonishing mountains which make up the 690 square kilometre Wulingyuan Scenic Area Unesco World Heritage Site and Geopark. Zhangjiajie was China’s first national forest park, created to protect the astonishing pinnacle mountains which James Cameron used for his Hallelujah Mountains and the rare wildlife and plants which call it home. You will see these today as you ride into the highlands by cable car and walk the extensive trails. The bird life is extensive. Look out for endangered Elliot’s Pheasant and Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher.

Evening: Take in the Fairy Fox show with the mountains as backdrop.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

Day 3: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park

All Day: Get up early to spend the whole day exploring Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. Begin with the ten-kilometre natural gallery – a path (and scenic toy train) which runs up a valley of pinnacle mountains. The birdlife is excellent here. Afterwards take the elevator up the cliff face for more astonishing views. Then explore the Golden Whip Stream trail and look for rare giant salamanders in the deep river pools and the many macaques that live in the forest.

Evening: Return to your rural hotel and relax with a bit of evening birdwatching.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Dinner

Day 4:

Qixing Mountain and Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon

Morning: Travel to Qixing Mountain in the early morning and enjoy the astonishing views from the glass platforms and walkways that straddle Zhangjiajie’s highest peaks. Look out for soaring hawk eagles in the valleys below, Chinese Monal – a gorgeous iridescent pheasant which is one of China’s emblematic birds, and rare Sichuan Jays.

Afternoon: Visit the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon and walk across the glass bridge for more astonishing views.

Evening: Visit the Seventy Wonders Tower in the town centre – the tallest stilt building in the world and enjoy a cultural show.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 5: Day Trip to Tianmen Mountain

All Day: Take a day trip to Tianmen Mountain. Ride the cable car to the summit and enjoy the astonishing views. Walk the Tianmen Mountain Glass Walkway and explore the groves of rare Dove Trees and the forests filled with wild magnolias and azaleas. Climb the Stairway to Heaven, which ascends to the huge open cavern at Heaven’s Gate

Evening: See the Fairy Fox show – set against the backdrop of Tianmen Mountain and telling the fabulous story of the forbidden love between a Tujia tribal village and a fox spirit of wild nature, with dance and opera.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Dinner

Day 6: Zhangjiajie to Fenghuang Ancient Town

Morning: Travel to Fenghuang Ancient Town by bullet train and check in to your hotel in the lovely countryside near the villages.

Afternoon: Explore the ancient town, walk along the Tuojiang River, and visit the surrounding natural scenery. Whie the main attraction is the lovely village and its setting – surrounded by extensive woodlands and rugged hills cut by rivers, there is some wildlife too. Muntjac, nuthatches, bulbuls and Chinese pheasants are common sights.

Evening: Enjoy a riverside dinner and see the town lit up at night and reflected in the river.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 7 – Fenghuang to Dehang

All Day: Take a day trip to Dehang to visit the Dehang Miao Village and Scenic area, learn about Miao ethnic minority culture and how the people live in harmony with the wild, and enjoy the lovely mountain landscapes and waterfalls. Lookout for kingfishers along the rivers and Golden and Lady Amherst’s Pheasants in the woodlands.

Evening: Return to Fenghuang for dinner and rest.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Dinner

Day 8: Transfer to Changsha

Morning: Transfer back to Changsha, check into your hotel

Afternoon: Visit the lovely Kaifu Buddhist temple and Hunan Provincial Museum – both treasures of ancient China with architecture and artefacts stretching back over millennia.

Evening: Visit the Daoist Temple at HuoGongDian, enjoy a cultural show in the vicinity and eat Mao ZeDong’s favourite dish in the city’s most iconic restaurant above the temple.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 9: Changsha to Dongting Lake

Morning: Travel to Yueyang and Dongting Lake. Check into a local guesthouse on the lakeshore.

Afternoon: Explore the Dongting Lake Wetland, a vital habitat for migratory birds and one of the last places where you can see the endangered Yangtze River Porpoise – the only freshwater porpoise in the world. Take a boat tour to enjoy the wildlife and the scenery.

Evening: Enjoy a local dinner with long nosed catfish caught straight from the lake.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 10: Departure from Changsha

Morning: Wake early to visit the Dongting Lake Nature Reserve for more birdwatching and exploration of the wetlands.

Afternoon: Return to Changsha for any last-minute shopping or sightseeing.

Evening: Depart from Changsha for your onward journey.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast