This 5-day tour features a high-altitude cable car ascent to Fansipan for summit camping and target birding, seeking rare White-throated and Pale-throated Wren-babblers alongside diverse Himalayan specialties.
Explore the Hoang Lien–Fansipan mountains for high-elevation Sino-Himalayan birds and range-restricted wren-babblers. This trip combines accessible mountain routes with more demanding forest birding, and the daily plan is adjusted to weather and trail conditions
The world’s longest three-rope cable car system, extending from the northern Lao Cai Province’s Sapa Town to Fansipan Peak, has been in operation since 2016. This cable car will take us to the "Roof of Indochina" easily, and from there we will have the best chance to seek out two mysterious endemic bird species: the White-throated Wren-babbler and Pale-throated Wren-babbler.
This special itinerary offers a complete tour with our professional bird guiding service, transportation, cable-car tickets, porters, meals, and entrance fees.
The tour cost is based on group size, so please contact us for more details on the tour price.
The expedition begins at Hanoi airport. We will drive to Sa Pa via the new expressway; this takes about 7 hours.
Overnight at Legend Hotel
We'll take the new cable car to the top of the mountain for 2 nights of camping. We start our explorations today by descending from the mountaintop at 3,142m (10300 feet) asl and birding on the way down to base camp at Tram Ton (2,100m/6900 feet asl). Over the course of 3 full days of birding, we'll look for the two mega-specialities, White-throated Wren-Babbler and Pale-throated Wren-Babbler, as well as many other interesting birds in this little-visited part of the country. We will also see many Himalayan bird species, including the Hill Partridge, Crimson-breasted Woodpecker, White-tailed Nuthatch, Bar-throated (Chestnut-tailed) and Red-tailed Minlas, Blue-winged Siva, Red-billed Leiothrix, White-browed and Golden-breasted Fulvettas, Stripe-throated Yuhina, Black-faced, Scaly, Red-winged, Silver-eared, White-browed Laughingthrushes, Rufous-bellied Niltava, Fulvettas and Golden Parrotbill, Sickle-billed Scimitar Babbler, Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler, White-browed Bush Robins, White Browed Shortwing, Green-tailed and Black-throated Sunbirds.
After some final mountain birding, we descend to the foothill area, birding at Silver Waterfall (Thac Bac), where we'll seek the White-capped Water Redstart and Little Forktail
We'll return to Sa Pa and stay overnight at Legend Hotel
We'll bird this morning at Ham Rong Orchid Garden, where we hope to see many common birds such as Black-headed Greenfinch, Brown-breasted Bulbul, Hill Prinia, and several different winter Phylloscopus warblers. Following an afternoon drive to Ha Noi, our tour ends at Ha Noi airport
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Tell us your travel dates, target birds, group size and preferred pace. Wildtour will help design a realistic and rewarding itinerary.