About Otus asio Tours
I founded Otus asio Tours in 1999 to fulfill my dream of organizing and leading birding tours to various places throughout the world. My passion for leading tours started in 1994 while living in Charlottesville, Virginia, when I organized a trip to Arizona for the Monticello Bird Club. Believe it or not, finding and showing Elf Owls and Elegant Trogons to eager birdwatchers was far more fun than working as an insurance company auditor! For the next five years I continued to organize and lead tours on an informal basis before deciding to start this company.
My goal is to provide well-organized tours to premier birding destinations. Though primarily focused on birds, the tours also allow ample time for visiting cultural and historical sites and for enjoying other wildlife such as mammals, reptiles and butterflies. As someone with an adventurous culinary sense, I also enjoy sampling the local cuisine of whatever area we are visiting. It has been said by some of my clients that the gustatory delights of my tours sometimes outweigh the avian. I would encourage you to review some of the previous tour bird lists so you don’t assume we are shortchanging the birds!
Accommodations are chosen for cleanliness, comfort and character. In foreign countries, I try to select inns and lodges that are locally owned and operated with ecological sensitivity. I try to avoid large chain hotels if at all possible. While traveling abroad, you can be assured that there will always be water that is safe to drink and food that is both delicious and safe to eat.
Group size is limited to 10-12 people depending upon the size of vehicles available to transport us during the tour. I feel that groups larger than this is a deterrent to seeing birds and other wildlife and lessen the experience for everyone. For most tour participants, these tours are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit a particular place and I do not wish to diminish their experience by turning it into a cruise ship environment!
I guess the best way to judge a tour company is by the number of clients who have taken multiple trips with them. I am proud to say that I have many clients who have repeatedly chosen my tours and I will be happy to furnish references should you wish to speak with any of them. My tours have attracted some of the nicest people I have ever met and traveling with them has been one of the great joys of my life. I hope that you will decide to join their number. I look forward to seeing you in the field!
Jan Hansen
Founder and Owner of Otus asio Tours