Trip Overview

Imagine a Scotland where nature is reawakened. Where the lost tapestry of Scots pine, rowan, birch, oak, aspen, alder and hazel that once draped itself across our hillsides is stitched back together. Where our land and seascapes teem once again with wildlife. Where nature-based enterprises support thriving communities. Where human connections to the natural world are strengthened in villages and cities. Where land and sea, people and wildlife, businesses and culture flourish together.

This is rewilding. Rewilding in Scotland is part of a growing worldwide movement that seeks to bring about the large-scale restoration of ecosystems on land and at sea. Many exciting rewilding initiatives are underway in the Scottish Highlands that will see large areas of forest, peatland and wetland restored and revitalised. These are the places where sea eagles soar, pine martens forage and beavers shape forest and loch. These are the places where one day, lynx might stalk their prey again.

Our journey will blend time spent in beautiful wild places, breathing in the air, listening to the silence. We will picnic alongside cascading rivers and seek out enriching encounters with wild animals. Along the way, we discover and learn about pioneering rewilding projects fighting back for nature and meet the inspiring people involved. At the end of each day, we return to our cosy lodgings where delicious, locally sourced food awaits, and our evenings conclude with several thought-provoking presentations and discussions across a broad spectrum of rewilding topics.

We run this trip in conjunction with the charity SCOTLAND: The Big Picture, who are working to drive the recovery of nature across Scotland through rewilding in response to the growing climate and biodiversity crises.

Day 1 – Arrival in the Cairngorms National Park Read Less: Day 1

Arrival in the Cairngorms National Park

The trip begins at Kingussie train station, set in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park, where your guide will be waiting to greet everyone. A short transfer leads to a lovely mountain lodge in the beautiful Glen Feshie. Once settled in, there’s time for introductions over ‘Scottish’ cocktails, followed by a presentation to set the scene for the adventure ahead. The day concludes with a delicious evening meal at the lodge.

Meals Included: Dinner

Day 2 – Wild Glens Read Less: Day 2

Wild Glens

This morning, head out for a short pre-breakfast walk around the 120-acre rewilding reserve surrounding the lodge. After a hearty breakfast, the journey continues with a hike to a secluded forest waterfall, followed by time exploring the regenerating landscape of Glen Feshie. Once in decline, the native pinewoods here are now thriving, gradually spreading across the hillsides—a striking example of nature’s resilience when given the chance. A picnic lunch by the cascading river offers a moment to pause before heading to Insh Marshes, one of the largest wetlands in the UK. Here, there’s time to look out for hen harriers and the Konik ponies that graze the area. To support the local community, the day might end with coffee and cake at a nearby café—rewilding can be such demanding work, after all!

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 3 – Loch Ness and Trees for Life Read Less: Day 3

Loch Ness and Trees for Life

Today, we head west to explore the shores of Loch Ness and the alluvial woodlands of Urquhart Bay. Here the rivers Enrick and Coiltie flow out into the loch, forming one of the best examples of surviving wet woodland in the UK. From there, it’s a short journey to the Dundreggan Estate, home to our friends Trees for Life and the world’s first dedicated Rewilding Centre. Lunch is enjoyed in the centre’s welcoming café, followed by a guided tour to learn more about the pioneering efforts to grow rare species like aspen. After dinner, there may be an optional visit to a local osprey nest, offering excellent views of these iconic raptors. Later in the season, another highlight could be witnessing Atlantic salmon leaping a waterfall as they return to their spawning grounds.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 4 – Working with Nature Read Less: Day 4

Working with Nature

Today, we head out to visit a couple of local farms. The first, once a barren sheep pasture, is being transformed into an incredible mix of diverse habitats through the dedication and vision of its owners. This visit offers insights into the challenges of land management and the inspiring recovery of the landscape. After lunch by the River Spey, we visit a second farm undergoing its own metamorphosis into woodland, wetland, and flower meadow. Here, efforts to work in harmony with nature are producing healthy, locally supplied food, another resounding success for working with nature instead of against it. This evening, back at the lodge, enjoy a fascinating talk on the Eurasian lynx and the possibilities of its reintroduction into Scotland.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 5 – Beavers and Caledonian Pinewood Read Less: Day 5

Beavers and Caledonian Pinewood

This morning, enjoy a visit to a nearby wetland to witness the incredible work of one of Scotland’s most celebrated rewilding characters: the beaver. At a recent release site, learn about their fascinating habitat-restoring work and the changes they bring about. Afterwards, travel into the magical pinewoods of the Cairngorms, home to red squirrels, golden eagles, and pine martens. In Abernethy Forest, one of the largest tracts of surviving woodland, join a ranger and learn about how, for the first time in centuries, the forest is now expanding, attracting new species, such as breeding white-tailed eagles. This evening, sit back with a ‘wee dram’ and enjoy a film that brings together many of the places and principles we have seen and learned about during our journey.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 6 – End of Trip Read Less: Day 6

End of Trip

After a relaxed breakfast, your guide will transfer you back to Kingussie Station where our trip will conclude.

Meals Included: Breakfast

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A Rewilding Journey in the Cairngorms

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Trip Dates & Prices

All payments taken in local currency GBP

Trip Dates for 2025	Availability	Status	Price	Book
23rd Aug - 28th Aug 2025	1 place(s) left	Guaranteed	£1,895	Book Now

Make This Trip Private

Fancy this trip just for your group? Get together with family and friends spend quality time exploring wild places. A private trip allows you to benefit from all the features of the group departure, including hand-picked accommodation and expert local guides but with the advantage of the flexibility to tailor the days to your group. Make the trip more or less challenging depending on your experience or choose to add in some optional extras like castle or distillery visits depending on your interests. The price of a private trip will depend on the number of travellers in your group. Let us know your preferred departure date and we'll take care of the rest.

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A Rewilding Journey in the Cairngorms

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Trip Details

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Accommodation Read More: This itinerary is based in a single location for the week, at a private mountain lodge in a secluded glen in the Cairngorms. The accommodation offers double and twin rooms with en-suite facilities.

Meals Read More

All meals from dinner on day 1 to breakfast on day 6 are included in this itinerary.

Breakfast and evening meals will be fully catered at the lodge and packed lunches will be provided each day. Included dinners are two courses as standard.

The lodge has an honesty fridge (cash only) which stocks local beers, gin, water, kombucha, diet coke, cheese, crackers, venison salami and chorizo, oat bars and crisps.

There will also be an opportunity to stop at a local shop on the first day to purchase any other alcoholic drinks and snacks you would like during your stay.

Inclusions Read More

5 nights accommodation in a welcoming lodge accommodation.
Meals as stated in the itinerary.
The services of an experienced and knowledgeable guide/driver throughout.
All transport throughout the trip, starting and finishing in Kingussie.

Grading Read More

Green Graded Wildlife Holidays 1-3

All of our wildlife trips are graded Green and involve straightforward hiking with no major ascents, as well as other activities which are pitched at novice level. You can expect to be active for around 5 hours each day so you will need a reasonable level of fitness. Please note that there may be some early starts and late nights as we seek to maximise our chances of finding wildlife, although you can always opt out of activities if you prefer an early night or long lie in the morning!

So to help you decide if you are fit enough for this kind of trip, ask yourself:

Are you generally active and, for example, happy to hike for 6 miles (10km), including some ascent, with rough ground in places?
Are you up for a challenge and trying new activities such as sea kayaking or boat trips?
Are you looking for a wildlife trip which involves more than simply sitting in a hide?

Travel - Arrival and Departure Read More

Your Guide will meet you at Kingussie Railway Station at 4:00pm on Day 1 of your trip. You will be returned to Kingussie Railway Station for 10:30am on the final day of your trip.

If you would like to use your own vehicle on the trip please get in touch with our team to discuss.

SCOTLAND: The Big Picture Read More

SCOTLAND: The Big Picture is a registered charity that works to drive the recovery of nature across Scotland through rewilding. Our vision is of a vast network of rewilded land and water across Scotland, where wildlife flourishes and people thrive.

For us, rewilding is an evolving process of nature recovery that leads to restored
ecosystem health, function and completeness, and we believe it is a solution to the inter-related crises of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss.

Our core focus areas are:

Driving support for rewilding
Committing more land and water to rewilding
Returning missing species
Developing rewilding business

Our Rewilding Experiences are a carefully crafted blend of learning, inspiration and fun, in the company of expert guides and like-minded fellow travellers. We show you pioneering rewilding projects and introduce you to the inspiring people driving these projects forward, all while helping make the economic case for landscapes rich in nature.

Recommended Reading Read More

If you would like to do some reading before, during or after your time with us, we would recommend the following books:

Scotland: A Rewilding Journey (you will receive a complimentary copy)
The Lynx And Us
MeWilding: Rewild your Life
Our Wild Farming Life by Lynn Cassells and Sandra Baer, owners of Lynbreck Croft, one of our Northwoods land partners
Regeneration: The Rescue of a Wild Land by Andrew Painting
Wilding by Isabella Tree
Feral by Georg Monbiot
Bringing Back the Beaver by Derek Gow
Restoring the Wild by Roy Dennis
Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd
Wild Souls by Emma Marris

Rewilding is a captivating concept and the books above provide different perspectives, including personal rewilding experiences from the authors. We hope they enrich your mind, provide inspiration and give you hope for the future.

Trip Reviews

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 12 review(s) of Wildlife Adventures – A Rewilding Journey in the Cairngorms

Every client receives a feedback survey when they return from their guided, self guided or tailor made holiday with us. Once completed the review is published on our website just as soon as our database updates. The little touches and details are important to us and where issues are raised we make positive changes to our trips to improve your experience.

That’s why we read each of our client’s reviews and although we don’t respond to all of them, if it’s glowing feedback then we get the satisfaction of helping to make your holidays truly memorable.

Roy Montague-Jones

Reviewed on 02/06/2025

Age: 60 - 70
Country: UK
Trip Date: 17/05/2025
Trips Taken: 2

The Bottom Line

The Bottom Line

Very enjoyable. Have come away with a much better understanding of how the rewinding process is being implemented. the film, "Why not Scotland?" was excellent.

Ian Browning

Reviewed on 01/06/2025

Age: 60 - 70
Country: Canada
Trip Date: 17/05/2025
Trips Taken: 1

The Bottom Line

The Bottom Line

A great trip, fun and informative, excellent guide, great group. Loved it.

Maureen Mitchell

Reviewed on 29/05/2025

Age: 80 - 90
Country: Scotland
Trip Date: 17/05/2025
Trips Taken: 4

The Bottom Line

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Wilderness Scotland

A Rewilding Journey in the Cairngorms

Trip Overview

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Day by DayItinerary

Day 1

Arrival in the Cairngorms National Park

Day 2

Wild Glens

Day 3

Loch Ness and Trees for Life

Day 4

Working with Nature

Day 5

Beavers and Caledonian Pinewood

Day 6

End of Trip

Trip Dates & Prices

Make This Trip Private

Trip Details

Green Graded Wildlife Holidays 1-3

Our core focus areas are:

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Bridget Brown

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Difficulty Grades Explained

Green Graded Wildlife Holidays 1-3

Trip Reviews

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Trip Comments

Accommodation & Food

The Bottom Line

Pre-Trip Service

Trip Comments

Accommodation & Food

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