Mexico: The Overwintering Monarchs
February 26 - March 2, 2010
Land Cost: $1,300 per person ($800/child - in triple with parents)
Extension: March 2-5 Post-trip Birding Expedition
Land Cost: $800 per person

Activity: Moderate to strenuous, high altitude walking and climbing steps
Accommodations: A charming Mexican mountain lodge

Join the Florida Museum of Natural History to see one of the most amazing events in nature...the annual migration of millions of Monarch butterflies from their breeding grounds in the United States and Canada to the mountains of central Mexico. You will have the opportunity to see them packed in the countless millions on the roosts in the early morning, as well as in flight at midday, feeding on wildflowers, and watering at streams. The sight of tens of millions of butterflies in the air at once, and hundreds of millions basking on the trees with their wings open, the beauty of their rustling wings (clearly audible at times of mass flight), the sprinkling of orange Monarch scales drifting down through the green fir tree boughs, all combine to make this one of the most amazing experiences in your life. Bring your best photographic equipment, to record this miracle for your friends and relatives to see and marvel at when you return home!

Extension: After your trip to see the Monarch Butterflies with Dr. Thomas Emmel, join Dr. David Steadman on an exploratory adventure in the forests of Southern Mexico for a spectacular birding expedition. Although Dr. Steadman will join the group to see the overwintering Monarch colonies, aiding the group with bird-spotting and bird identification around the colonies, the birding extension will start on March 2nd, when the rest of the group returns to Mexico City to visit the Pyramids. You will then visit the Pyramids when you return to Mexico City after birding, on March 5th.

Program Leader: Dr. Thomas C. Emmel is Director of the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, and also professor of Entomology and Zoology at the University of Florida. He has specialized in tropical ecology for the past 35 years and has led many scientific expeditions and ecotourism groups to more than 40 other countries around the world.

Extension Leader: Dr. David Steadman, Curator of Ornithology and Director of Research and Collections at the Florida Museum of Natural History

For registration information, please contact:

Court Whelan - expeditiontravel@gmail.com
General Manager
Expedition Travel

Download the Overwintering Monarchs trip bochure with day-to-day itinerary (PDF)

NOTE: Dates, prices and itineraries are subject to change. Prices are per person based on double occupancy. Photograph by Lucas Century. All Rights Reserved.