This tour is an extension of the tour Iberian lynx, Spanish imperial eagle and Egyptian mongoose in Spain 26th October – 1st November 2025. Read more here…
SOME HIGHLIGHTS
- One of Spain’s best areas to photograph the formerly endangered Spanish ibex
- The ibex here are used to people and often remarkably unafraid
- This is rut season for the ibex, usually with plenty of action.
- Well-established photo hides for griffon and cinereous vultures, where they often come down at very close range and in impressive numbers
- Often, a Spanish imperial eagle also shows up
- As far as we know, we are the only Swedish travel agency offering ibex and vulture tours to this location
- You will get personalized photographic advice and tips in a small group of like-minded
- And remember, we’ve always been there before
CASTILIA – LA MANCHA
This tour takes place in the province of Castilla-La Mancha, located in central Spain, just southwest of Madrid, near the city of Toledo. We will be based in a private area below the Sierra de Gredos, in part of a Natura 2000 nature reserve. It’s a mosaic of farmland and pastures, highlands, and forested areas, with the majestic, often snow-capped Gredos Mountains in the background. Eagles and vultures appear as silhouettes against the blue sky. It is an extremely raptor-rich area, almost of African proportions. For nature photographers, it offers fantastic photographic opportunities. The vulture hides are very well-organized and established, so the birds are accustomed to people in them.
The Iberian ibex was, just a few decades ago, endangered but has made a strong comeback. The Gredos Mountains are one of their core areas. Here, they are quite used to people and can allow humans quite close, even during their mating activities. The males spar and test their strength against each other. Then they flirt with the females by sticking out their tongues and holding a blade of grass coolly in their mouths. We will attempt to move around the mountain slopes and follow them in their activities.
As with all wild animals, you never really know what will happen, but we can promise that you won’t find better photographic opportunities for the Iberian ibex than here.
Itinerary
If you are not joining the Iberian lynx tour in the days before, you need to arrive in Madrid no later than the day before the trip starts, at Madrid’s Barajas Airport (MAD) or the train station, where you will be picked up. The travel time is about 1.5 hours to the small town of Talavera de la Reina. Accommodation is at your own expense if you are not participating in the Iberian lynx. We will arrange the hotel booking.
Day 1 (1/11) (Breakfast – Lunch – Dinner)
We will get up early and leave before dawn to the vulture hides, where we spend the entire day. The vultures are used to being fed here, and there can be a hundred or more of them. Additionally, there are now several hungry young birds that need to practice. It often becomes quite lively with fierce competition for the food. Sometimes, a Spanish imperial eagle joins the scene, and maybe even red kites as well…
Dinner and overnight stay at the hotel in Talavera de la Reina.
Day 2 (2/11) (Breakfast – Lunch – Dinner)
We will get up in the darkness of night and travel up into the Gredos Mountains, where from dawn onwards, we will try to get as close as possible to the handsome Iberian ibex engaged in their mating activities.
Dinner and overnight stay at the hotel in Talavera de la Reina.
Day 3 (3/11) (Breakfast)
Breakfast at the hotel in Talavera de la Reina, followed by transfer to Madrid’s airport or train station.
Photographic leader
Staffan Widstrand, born in 1959 is a photographer and writer. Sony Imaging Ambassador.
Staffan is one of Sweden’s internationally most recognized photographers. In 2011, Outdoor Photography Magazine called him ”one of the most influential photographers in the world”. Appointed ”Wildlife photographer of the year” in Sweden and a winner of international photo competitions, such as:
Wildlife Photographer of the Year
European Nature Photographer of the Year
Emirates Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Årets Bild i Sverige
PGB Awards
Staffan has been on the jury of several international photo competitions and was one of the main jury members in World Press Photo 2013.
Published in most of the major magazines in the world, such as National Geographic Magazine, GEO, Stern, Der Spiegel, Le Figaro, La Repubblica, El Mundo, El País, Natur, Terre Sauvage, Animan, Veja Brazil, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, FOCUS, Yomiuri Shimbun och Shanghaibaserade The Bund Pictorial.
Staffan has had international solo or group exhibitions in Toronto, at the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo, at Tromsø Museum, at Bodø Museum, at the Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle in Bonn, Oslo City Hall, Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, the Swedish Embassy in Washington, in Mérida, Mexico, in Mexico City, in Salamanca, Spain, at the National Zoological Museum in Beijing, in Chengdu, Tianjin, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China, at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, the museum of Torino, Italy as well as major outdoor exhibitions in The Hague, Prague, Berlin, Madrid, Copenhagen and Stockholm. In Sweden, he has had exhibits at Kulturhuset in Stockholm, the regional museums in Kristianstad, Luleå and Malmö, at Fotomässan in Gothenburg and in Stockholm, as well as at the Skansen, Kolmården and Borås Zoos, at Hornborgasjöns Konsthall and at Bränneriet Art in Österlen.
Staffan has published 18 books, four of which have been winners of the WWF Panda book award.
A picture editor at Natur & Kultur publishers in Stockholm for 5 years, a nature tour guide and tour production manager all across the world for many years. Appointed as Visiting Professor at the Beijing Ministry of Culture Old University, and he is also one of the founders of a possible ”Wild Wonders of China” initiative.
Staffan is a member of the Swedish Nature Photographers Association (Naturfotograferna/N)
Webpage: www.staffanwidstrand.se
www.wild-wonders.com
www.rewildingeurope.com
www.de5stora.com
www.wildwondersofchina.com
