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MALTA NATURE TOURS

INTRODUCTION: Backed with 5 years of experience, MaltaNatureTours.com specializes in organising guided nature walks in Malta and Gozo supplying identification and further specific information about the biodiversity encountered. The selected tour leaders are graduated in environmental science or agriculture and apart their fluent English, they are selected for their charm and communication skills. Small groups guarantee personal attention and a unique experience in the spectacular Maltese natural habitats from Autumn to end of Spring. From our years of experience, tours have been made perfect to ensure the right balance of fun, education, non-exhaustive exercise, site seeing, plenty of magnificent views, touch of history and acquainted to a number of wild species in the safest and best countryside areas in the Maltese islands.

MISSION: Apart from this touring service, we have a mission to promote local environment and protection of natural habitats of which many are endangered in Malta, partly due to lack of awerness and partly due to the growing urbanisation. Considerable part of the profits from this service will go to sponsor environmental activities and websites needed so much to increase awareness and educate younger generations about the importance of our environment. For example, a part of the sister website - Maltawildplants.com is sustained from such funds. Durig the last century, Malta have suffered mining of land for building or use of natural resources for commercial purposes. A number of species have been lost during the last couple of decades but hope exists - some species of plants thought to be extinct have been rediscovered, while some species of birds are nesting back in Malta, after EU restrictions on the environment.

Some wild flowers that accompany our tours in Malta

Some wild flowers from the countryside in Malta. --- Click thumbnail image for details about these Maltese wild flowers from sister website - maltawildplants.com

Photos of Wild flowers
taken from our sister website: MaltaWildplants.com

Botanical Research for Foreigners

We offer specialised tours guided by our residet expert about the flora of Malta author of several scientific articles (and the famous website Maltawildplants.com) related to flora of the Maltese Islands. If one wants to study particular group of plants in Malta, there is no need to waste time searching them - our botanist can guide you to find them around several sites in mainland Malta. Such requests have in the past been to study or photograph Orchids, Sedges, plants endemic to Malta, Tetraclinis populations, Daucus plants, Endemic Coastal Limonium species, remnant forests of Malta or wetland vegetation. For the time being we do not specialize on marine ecology, birds or many divisions of the kingdom of Fauna and Fungi.

This service include full day transport by car to numerous destinations around Malta as requested by the researcher, and can be booeked for 1 to 4 persons. Transport from and to hotel is included while a packed lunch is an optional extra. Time from sunrise to sunset - typically 8am to 5pm. Date flexible according weather conditions, For example if you book 1st March, and happens to be heavy rain, the tour can be shifted to few days later according availaibility of our guide.

Comments and Feedback

Dr Jan Cerovsky, President Emeritus Planta Europa, Honorary Member of IUCN

Mz wife Jarmila and me visited Malta in March 2010 with the intention to observe the local flora and vegetation, orchids in particular. Our plan would not be a success, if we had not establish a contact with Stephen Mifsud. Stephen is an outstanding expert in botany and conservation. He was as kind as to guide us during two whole-day tours: one through the main island, one to Gozo. We admired his competence and ejoyed the friendship of him. We also had the possibility to visit some amazing cultural monuments. We will keep the knowledge and impressions gained. I intend also to write some article about the plants in Malta for some of the Czech biological/conservation journals. Many thanks to Stephen!

March 2010

Anthony Hamilton, UK

I am Anthony Hamilton, a professional botanist who has retired from the post of Senior Lecturer in Plant Sciences at the University of East London (U.K.). I have also been involved in writing and publishing various publications (books and articles) principally about Mediterranean plants, including Walks and Flowers of Gibraltar, Andalusian Flowers and Countryside and the Gladiolus accounts of Flora Europaea (Vol.V) and Flora of Turkey (Vol.8).

I took one of the tours organised by Stephen Mifsud in April 2010 who introduced me to the floras of Malta and Gozo.

I was particularly impressed, as a professional, by the enormous depth of knowledge of Stephen Mifsud and particularly by his photographic memory as to exactly where he'd found a plant several years before !

He showed me very competently around the islands and he was very patient in answering questions, particularly persistent and fiddly ones, as I tried to elicit the finer points. Nothing was too much trouble for him.

Had I not had Stephen as I guide, I would never have learned as much as I did.

I am certainly coming back to Malta for another session as soon as time allows.

June 2010

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