Fuerteventura Tips for April (2 Viewers)

[pprest00]

Hi all, I am planning to visit Fuertebentura at the beginning of April and I am wondering if anyone has any advice for traveling around the island. Is it possible to get to birding spots without a car? Is it easy to get around without speaking Spanish? Any advice would be much appreciated. Also any tips for finding the endemics and endemic subspecies are welcome!
Cheers!

 

[Owene]

I've done Lanzarote and tenerife without a car recently, not specifically fuerteventura but probably quite similar.

Getting around without spanish in the canaries is very easy both as far as communicating and using public transport. I'm quite interested in the birding without a car aspect myself as I need the stonechat and have been considering it recently. I wouldn't think the houbara are really easily doable without one, I hired a guide for a day on Lanzarote to get the desert birds.

 

[THE_FERN]

I've done Lanzarote and tenerife without a car recently, not specifically fuerteventura but probably quite similar.

Getting around without spanish in the canaries is very easy both as far as communicating and using public transport. I'm quite interested in the birding without a car aspect myself as I need the stonechat and have been considering it recently. I wouldn't think the houbara are really easily doable without one, I hired a guide for a day on Lanzarote to get the desert birds.

Depending how keen one is, you can walk to a/the canyon with the stonechat from the airport

 

[Owene]

Depending how keen one is, you can walk to a/the canyon with the stonechat from the airport

yeah i thought i'd seen reports on here of people getting the stonechat on foot. That barbary ground squirrel and the sandgrouse would be my targets.

 

[THE_FERN]

yeah i thought i'd seen reports on here of people getting the stonechat on foot. That barbary ground squirrel and the sandgrouse would be my targets.

Ground squirrel's introduced, of course. One possibility for sand grouse would be tindaya---looks like there's a bus. You can probably find them near el cotillo too. The area between the 2 is good for houbara

 

[exilipes]

airport

I saw sandgrouse over the airport

 

[Owene]

Ground squirrel's introduced, of course. One possibility for sand grouse would be tindaya---looks like there's a bus. You can probably find them near el cotillo too. The area between the 2 is good for houbara

Thank you. Have been thinking about it as a family holiday destination. Would be nice to see houbara again but I have seen it

 

[Alf King]

Hi all, I am planning to visit Fuertebentura at the beginning of April and I am wondering if anyone has any advice for traveling around the island. Is it possible to get to birding spots without a car? Is it easy to get around without speaking Spanish? Any advice would be much appreciated. Also any tips for finding the endemics and endemic subspecies are welcome!
Cheers!

Getting to the key birding spots (e.g Tindaya Plains, Los Molinos) in Fuerteventura without a car is very difficult. It is a large island, similar to Tenerife but with a much smaller population and limited public transport. Many of the places that you would wish to visit are on tracks rather than made up roads. A lack of Spanish shouldn't be a problem but having a smattering certainly helps.

There is a very useful Crossbill Guide to Fuerteventura and Lanzarote which focusses on wildlife, including a number of detailed maps and offers advice on getting around; the basic message is that you need to drive. I am going there myself in January and, despite visiting previously, found this guide to be most helpful.

This website may be of some use: Birdingplaces |The free online guide to birding!

 

[david kelly]

The stonechat can be seen in the Barranco del Torre which is accessible on foot from Salinas del Carmen. There is a regular bus from Caleta de Fuste to Salinas. The Barranco is over a small hill. The chats were quite a way up near the quarry. There are also Egyptian Vultures nesting in the Barranco, and if they are breeding the path is closed.

 

[Alf King]

This may help: Routes & Timetables - TIADHE

There are regular services to El Cortillo from where there are reports of walking/cycling paths to see Bustards and Coursers.

 

[Phil Andrews]

The Tropicbird is back today at Caleta.

 

[Barred Wobbler]

The Tropicbird is back today at Caleta.

By pure coincidence, I was doing a re-edit only this afternoon of some of the shots I got of it over the golf course last March!

Back on topic. I'd agree with others that a car is needed for the best chance of the desert birds.