Wildlife Adventures – The Shetland Isles

Pre-Trip Service

Trip Comments
We enjoyed our week with Ken Keith who was a great guide and company. Well organised always listened and went the extra mile

Accommodation and Food
The hotel staff made every effort to ensure we enjoyed our stay breakfast,packed lunches and dinner certainly kept us going

Your Guide
Thanks to Ken Shetland met and went beyond our expectations his efforts were greatly appreciated by all the group a lovely guy.

The Bottom Line
A great experience your ticking all the right boxes

Pre-Trip Service
Well organised, balanced trips with carefully selected accommodation, and experienced guides in fantastic locations

Trip Comments
Guide's attention to each member of the group as well as group dynamic- ensuring everyone had a holiday to remember- and seeing and hearing snipe, hen harrier, otter, great northern diver

Accommodation and Food
Milngavie Bn B not up to standard- hairs in food at breakfast

Your Guide
Only evidence to proffer is that I'm on my 6th booking with you- and also booking a privately guided trip with Ken!

The Bottom Line
Consistently great

Pre-Trip Service

Trip Comments

Accommodation and Food

Your Guide

The Bottom Line

Pre-Trip Service
Very cheerful voices, always willing to answer questions. Thanks!

Trip Comments

Accommodation and Food
The Busta House was a great spot to 'come home to' each night. The staff were friendly and helpful, the room was well appointed and the dining experience was great.

Your Guide
Our guide was a true professional. Ken was fun to be with and well organized. The trip ran like clockwork -a true acknowledgement of his attention to detail- all done with a smile on his face. His efforts created very contented clients. Ken has a broad knowledge of flora, fauna, culture and history of Scotland. He willingly answered our endless questions! He truly cares that his guests thoroughly enjoy their holiday.

The Bottom Line
The Wilderness Scotland team is a well oiled machine! They know their stuff and serving their clients is of utmost importance to them.

Pre-Trip Service

Trip Comments
I think the price should include the cost of all the meals but not drinks and the entrance fees (where applicable) to museums, etc.

Accommodation and Food
The Busta was perfect; the building was traditional, the food was very good in particular the fish dishes and the staff couldn't have been more attentive.......charming. The packed lunches were excellent, they even prepared generous salad bowls.

Your Guide
Ken was good company and managed the Group and all our walks, museum visits and dinner arrangements with great care.

The Bottom Line
We thoroughly enjoyed the whole holiday. We flew in from Aberdeen Airport and landed at Sumburgh Airport that in itself was an experience. We took a taxi from the Airport to Lerwick and this cost £45.00, for the return journey we used the number 6 bus which cost £5.80! The Shetland people were very friendly and chatty. All in all together with the cost of the flights to and from Shetland this holiday cost us around £4000.00. Having said all that we saw birds too numerous to mention, plenty of open spaces, rare orchids, seals and a sea otter we also had such fun with the others in the group, we were sad to bid them farewell.

Pre-Trip Service
Good information, replies could be quicker.

Trip Comments
Great group. Excellent leader who was fun, skilled, knowledgeable and managed the group allowing everyone to enjoy themselves. The wind one day was hard work but gave us a real sense of achievement. The boat trip to see the gannets, razor bills, guillemots, black back gulls, bonxies and "hairy cod" was great we saw bonding gannets, nest building and the almost kamikasi gannets dives for fish. On our trip to Muckle Flugga we saw a puffin feet away from us. Another we called spitfire because it was flying so fast around and around in circles in an attempt to land in the wind.

Accommodation and Food
Very comfortable and a staff that would go out of there to be helpful. Great view.

Your Guide
Excellent leader who was fun, skilled, knowledgeable and managed the group allowing everyone to enjoy themselves. Constantly aware of members of the group, checking to see if people were ok. He was also flexible listening to what we wanted from the holiday and he did his best to deliver, we even saw otters!

The Bottom Line
Excellent

Pre-Trip Service
Help and advice was always personalised and tailored to individual needs.

Trip Comments
SATURDAY. My first ever Bonxies as we partook of a picnic on Muckle Roe in the sunshine.

SUNDAY. A hooded crow outside the Busta House Hotel to warm my heart on a chill-breeze day. Fast becoming a favourite island bird. Also my first ever black guillemot at Ness of Hillswick where the chill breeze turned into a gale of Lear proportions. Wonderful red granite terrain and the sea stacks known as the Drongs. Then from Esha Ness a view of the Dore Holm. Certainly a giant horse taking a drink of water.

MONDAY. South of the island to Sumburgh Head and the iron age wheelhouses of Jarlshof. Great northern diver and my first ever red-breasted merganser.

TUESDAY. An Arctic skua outside the Busta House Hotel - another first. Unmistakeable call and tail. To the islands of Yell and Unst and the Northern territories of Herma Ness and Muckle Flugga. Through the nesting grounds of the Bonxies then the sighting of gannets gathered on rock stacks and the extreme ultima Thule experience with the view of the lighthouse on Muckle Flugga. A group of otters at the ferry landing at Wick of Belmont , including one big male, fish in mouth, going about his otter business.

So much more to say. This inspirational experience will have me reflecting and writing for some time to come.

Accommodation and Food
Shetland in general was perfect for mussels, scallops. monkfish and lamb. The Fjara was unbeatable by any standards. Their Shetland mussels divine. And the Museum restaurant in Lerwick had a great ambience too. The Scallaway Hotel boasted fine fish and lobster. But where was the promised halibut?

The accommodation at the Busta House Hotel was perfect and the helpfulness of the staff beyond measure.

Your Guide
Ken Keith was superb at accommodating individual requests. He also modelled a kind of good fellowship which impacted upon the group as a whole. He consulted with us over everything we did and made adjustments to arrangements when necessary. But number one for me was that he added another unexpected dimension to what were terrific walks with the occasional reading of an appropriate poem.

The Bottom Line
In their Shetland Adventure Wilderness Scotland provide a gift of a trip to the magic and mystery of Ultima Thule.

Pre-Trip Service
One thing could have been a bit clearer, that we had to sort out our packed lunches for the first day ourselves. I know that (L) was not stated for day one on the itinerary but even so it would have been good to point that out.

Trip Comments

Accommodation and Food
Diffcult to beat Busta House! Very atmospheric, comfortable and cosy hotel, extremely helpful staff and good food.

Your Guide
Ken was excellent! Very knowledgable and took great care of the group. Always ready to listen and very accommodating. Also willing to share his personal experiences and love for Shetland.

The Bottom Line
This was the second time we travelled with Wilderness Scotland, and we were equally impressed and satisfied this time, as our previous trip to Orkney was fantastic too.

Pre-Trip Service
the folks in customer service are very knowledgeable, prompt and friendly.

Trip Comments
We were in the Shetlands for a week and the weather bad (WET) most of the trip; main reason for the good versus excellent trip rating. Trip venue and accommodations were fine. Missed seeing a lot of the birds in natural habitat that we were looking forward to (because of visibility). Starting the trip at the museum in Lewrick was a great way for us to get "into" the Shetlands.

Accommodation and Food
Liked staying at one hotel versus having to change. Hotel staff was excellent. Food was very good. Despite the drive. we would recommend going out to different restaurants for dinner; having 4 meals at the same restaurant was too much for us.

Your Guide
We liked Zoe and appreciated her passion for the outdoors Scotland, and overall knowledge. She worked hard to make the trip work for everyone and we appreciated it. Guides make or break a trip; Zoe did a very good job; unfortunately she did not control the weather!

The Bottom Line
We are Wilderness Scotland fans, this is our second trip with you and we look forward to doing more in the future. Group size, great trips and knowledgeable guides. Staying in local hotels also appeals to us.

Pre-Trip Service
The info received was timely and always useful.

Trip Comments
We felt well looked after, our guide was flexible regarding our own preferences, her love of the outdoors was infectious. Mother Nature threw her a huge challenge (rain & wind for the week!) but she always had an alternative plan (Plan B). She did her homework each evening to ensure we would have some good options the next day - Zoe worked hard for us! Zoe, your choice of Frankie's Fish & Chips on the one and only sunny evening was a master stroke! Sitting in the sun on that verandah was a top night for us all! As Zoe came across by ferry and hired a van in Lerwick, her vehicle did not have a mic. So at times if you were sitting in the back, you couldn't always hear what she was telling us although she would be trying to speak loudly. On the Orkneys tour, we had a WS van which had the mic in it - so much better.

Accommodation and Food
Lunches were great. The staff & management were extremely pleasant and obliging. It was nice to have a couple of meals away from Busta House though as we became used to its menu. Having said that we can appreciate why WS uses it as it's centrally located and you can travel out from it each day in different directions. However I do think you need to explain this in your information brochure. Some people in our group would have preferred to have been in a town so they had other choices for night meals but I can see now that the Shetlands isn't that kind of place really and Busta House was actually well positioned for our walks etc. Oh & if there were any complaints about the toilets not working - they did. You just have to pump that lever 7-8 times and you get the most amazing waterfall/flush! It's just an old building that's all and I loved the fact that it was hundreds of years old - it's part of what we came to experience.

Your Guide
See previous comments. Zoe was pleasant to be with, her knowledge of the outdoors (flora, faune etc) was impressive. Nothing was too much trouble for her and we felt well looked after.

The Bottom Line
Every aspect of the trip was well planned for and executed. The driving was excellent, we received an amazing education about Scottish culture, geology, wildlife & history.