If you are passionate about wild nature, dream of seeing the Pyrenean bear and you also want to live the experience of sleeping in nature, in bear territory, you will like this proposal.
One of the greatest wildlife challenges in Europe, going in search of the Pyrenean bear, the brown bear that has been photographed the fewest times. Accompanied by a tracker with more than 20 years of experience finding bears for a multitude of projects on the Peninsula, Europe and Russia.
You will learn to find the wild fauna of the Pyrenees, make some observations to try to see bears, interpret the tracks and to develop strategies that will take you to the next level as a nature observer or photographer.
You will also have the opportunity to discover in first person and from the inside, the home of the bears.
Our proposal for this year is exciting, sleeping in the middle of nature, in one of the best preserved areas of the Iberian Peninsula, the Alt Pirineu andValle de Arán Natural Park.
A small population of brown bear hides in the wildest corners of this spectacular area of the Pyrenees. Few are those who have been able to observe it directly, its elusive nature, its scarcity and rough terrain, have officially made it the most difficult brown bear to observe in the world.
We will try to see bears every day, dedicating the best hours of the day to waiting for them from strategic points and spending hours observing them with binoculars with the intention of seeing them.
The mating season is the best and almost the only time of the year where we have real chances of observing plantigrades. We have been studying the transit areas at this time for years and despite the difficulty, we have observed them every season.
Direct observation is difficult and requires many hours of patience, but we can achieve it by acting as a team under the guide’s instructions.
To do this, we will give a practical courseon pyrenean bear location and tracking, each participants will be able to find clues and, why not, locate a brown bear with their binoculars.
The aim is to know about bears, discover where and how it lives, study its tracks and with a bit of luck, we will be able to observe it, always at great distances and without intervening in its habits.
These expeditions are made with the utmost respect for the animal and the environment and the goal is to make the plantigrade known, but the desire to photograph it for its own safety should never prevail, so in the event of breaching any of the rules agreed with the teams technicians, the Piros team may expel any of the participants from the expedition.
Join this expedition in search of the least photographed bear in Europe
Silhouette of a brown bear in the Pyrenees
Brown bear during an expedition in Pallars Sobirá
As someone chasing a shadow, and with the best local tracking team, we will enter in the area where bears has been seenand spend a few nights in the middle of nature, looking for direct observation of some of the Pyrenean bear specimens.
We will pay attention to the traces and signs of its presence within the forests, where it moves during the nights, these traces that the bear leaves behind, represent the best aid for the search, they indicated us if the area is a hotspot at that moment. they show if the bear was around there. Finding a footprint or droppings, we calculate the elapsed time and try to figure out their next movments. And you can learn how we do it.
During the day we will place the night camera traps, due to motion sensors will capture the movements of the animal in the area. These equipment will be our eyes during the night, and we will place where the animals walk to have absolute control in case the specimen leaves the area or goes to a neighboring area.
When all get ready, we will get prepared the waiting point, we must find an area from where we have the best view towards the area where we think the bear may come out, adjoining slopes and high passageways that we have already studied well. With the aid of binoculars and telescopes we can keep a great distance, without interfering in their routine and at the same time controlling a larger area.
The program is an estimate of the activities that we will carry out, but it is totally adaptable to the situations, that is, the schedules can vary based on the needs of the group, the locations can change depending on the weather, etc…
The adventure begins, from 4:00 p.m. we will be waiting for you at the place where we will spend the first night of camping.
(Possibility of rural accommodation, hotel or bungalow) Consult*
A meeting day with the group, where we will explain how the expedition is going to be and it will be the first contact with the camping material.
We also take the opportunity to share the latest news we have about the location of the bears.
This day, if we have time, we could try the first observation near the accommodation.
Next is dinner time, a good time to get to know each other. Finishing the day we must go to sleep early, tomorrow it’s time to pack up tents and start the Bear expedition!
Breakfast at the accomodation. Once we have everything ready, we leave for the Bear territory. We go up to the cabin crossing forests and meadows where bears usually walk, during the expedition we will explain important details about these plantigrades.
When we arrive at the cabin we leave everything, rest if it´s necessary and we will start looking for the points for the afternoon wait. Then, when the sun has gone, we return to the cabin, dinner time and share stories around the bonfire.
We get up very early and go straight to the waiting point that we already prepared the day before. We can also have breakfast.
During mid-morning and part of the afternoon, we will return into bear land looking for new signs and trails that show us the last steps of the bears and with the information, we will prepare a new waiting point.
When afternoon starts we will return to the point to wait and try to find a bear on the opposite slopes with binoculars and telescopes.
We return to the cabin, dinner, bonfire…
We wake up early and we will follow the dynamics of the previous days.
Direct to the waiting point and stay there for a few hours, we can also get the breakfast.
During this day we take the opportunity to discover new areas and cover more territory.
The fourth day is ideal to also change the cabin and area, depending on the results we have, it will be a crucial day.
We continue with the same dynamic of observation, finding the waiting points and preparing them for the afternoon and the next morning.
Finishing the afternoon observation we return to our cabin, conversation around the fire, have dinner…
We got up early and headed to the waiting points. It will be our last chance to see bears, many times this day is the big day.
We have 60% of the total number of bear sightings made during the last day, so you always live with an extra emotion. This wait is usually always longer than usual taking advantage to the end.
At the end, we return to the cabin and collect our things, we still have to go down to the vehicles, crossing for the last time the home of the Pyrenean bear.
We all eat together, usually we choose a restaurant in the area and that’s when we celebrate and toast all we’ve seen.
An after-meal with a farewell flavor among friends, because after the days we have shared, I assure you that we have become friends.
And from this moment, as far as your desire for adventure reaches, welcome to the Piros Explorer family, you are already one of us 😉
The outing focuses mainly on the Brown Bear, but the entire area in which we will move is full of many other wild animals, with which we may possibly come across, some more difficult to see than others. The fauna of the Pyrenees includes the deer, roe deer, fox, wild boar, chamois and marmot. As for the birds, we can highlight the Griffon Vulture, the Bearded Vulture and the Golden Eagle. They are also very abundant a large number of small birds, mammals, reptiles and a wide variety of flora.
First night in camping, each participant or couple will have their own tent. (It is possible to hire a cabin or bungalow within the same campsite, provided there is availability)
Rest of the nights in shepherd’s cabins, tents in the mountains or at the campsite in case of changing areas.
This expedition includes the welcome dinner on the first day. The rest of the meals are excluded. The first day we can also go to supermarket.
For the expedition we recommend light weight foods with high nutritional value. Dehydrated or freeze-dried food is a very good option for this type of outing.
We have some camping gas for those who need to heat water or cook.
The expeditions will be carried out in groups of between 4-8 people and will be filled in order of reservation.
| Group of 4 | 560€ per person |
| Group of 5-6 | 520€ per person |
| Group of 7-8 | 480€ per person |
Expedition 1: From May 1 to 5 – BUSY
Expedition 2: From May 8 to 12 – AVAILABLE
Expedition 3: From May 22 to 26 – BUSY
Expedition 4: From June 5 to 9 – AVAILABLE
Expedition 5: From June 12 to 16 – AVAILABLE
Expedition 6: From June 21 to 25 (special San Juan) – AVAILABLE
Expedition 7: From June 26 to 30 – AVAILABLE
*If you have a group of more than 4 participants and/or want to carry out the expedition in private (maximum 10 people), please contact us.
*In case you do not have 5 days, we suggest Pyrenean bear safari
*If you need transfers to the place of the expedition, contact us directly and we can organize.
A trip for fauna observation and photography, we will make guards and wait at night in the hides located in the forests to see the bears.
Observation trip through the Pyrenees, it is the mating season of the deer. The males come down from the high area of the mountain emitting an ancestral sound
A workshop in which you will learn to properly configure the basic parameters of your camera, to photograph the stars and the Milky Way.
