Not sure if this will be of any help.My experience is limited to a 2 week family holiday with the Wilczur clan ( Bird illustrator) in April 2004.We did manage a few days away from the kids and wives to do some birding in Zapata.
We struggled to contact El Chino the birdguide but eventually caught up with him after we arrived at Zapata. I believe these are his details:
chino.zapata@gmail.com; telephone: 045-98-7354 or 045 98 7355; mobile 52 94185; address: Caletón (just west of Playa Larga), Cienaga de Zapata, Matanzas, CP 43000.
He used to run fixed fee birding half days where he takes on all comers. This makes it poor value for small groups when more people turn up. He was charging US$20 a person per day, and his brother charged each of the 2 of us the same, which worked out much better for us. With El Chino it was a bit of a bun fight with different people wanting birds that others had already seen the previous day etc.! He was knocking Owls out of roosting sites at a fare rate: Bare legged & Cuban Pygmy were disturbed for us tourists. He torched Stygian at CITMA at night.
We survived an afternoon and a morning session but opted for a smaller private outing with his brother (who didn’t speak much English) on another day ( his brother brought along 2 other visitors, so there was still some elbowing). They know the area well and where most of the birds are. There was some anxiety /communication breakdown when his brother called a Spotted Rail a Zapata Rail whilst at Turba.
You may experience some logistic problems if your Spanish is limited. (Like finding a petrol station as most of the petrol outside of Havana seemed to be stored in peoples garages!!).
Driving wasn’t a problem but we were shocked in the early hours of the morning to suddenly be confronted by people who were sleeping on the hard shoulder of the motorway jumping up from their slumber waving their arms for a lift. We had been struggling to keep our selves awake during the 3-4 hour drive to Zapata as our internal flight arrived at midnight but pretty soon perked up.
We managed Palpite on our first morning unaided as we arrived in the early hours of the morning from Havana. We had good views of the Trogan, C Green Woodpecker, Cu Bullfinch ,Yellow cowled Oriole, Rose throated Parrot, Cresent eyed Pewee, Cuban Emerald and Bee Hummer. What they didn’t tell you in ‘birding school’ was that he smallest bird in the world likes to sit on the tallest tree in the forest!! Scope views only for us.
Good luck,
Eric
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Last edited by RUWright at 7/05/2011 20:51 ]
