Mexico's Magical Monarchs Photo Workshop with Cheryl Opperman

Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico

Rt
Reefs to Rockies
  • Email address verified
69 reviews
Jan 12 - 18, 2025
Group size: 4 - 6
Mexico's Magical Monarchs Photo Workshop with Cheryl Opperman
Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico

Reefs to Rockies
  • Email address verified
69 reviews

Jan 12 - 18, 2025
Group size: 4 - 6

About this trip

Every winter, cloud forests in central Mexico play host to millions, perhaps a billion monarch butterflies. This aggregation of monarchs ranks as one of the most impressive wildlife spectacles on the planet. When masses of butterflies take flight, the beating of their wings sounds like rain falling. The cumulative weight of massive monarch clusters on oyamel fir trees bends branches. 

Journey to the heart of Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Reserve with award-winning photographer Cheryl Opperman. This small group photographic expedition offers unparalleled access with the maximum amount of time possible in the heart of the monarch reserve. 

About Cheryl Opperman

Journey into a captivating world of sunswept limestone contours, mysterious ancient architecture, majestic elk crossing misty waters, and the crimson cheeks of a curious child captured through the eye of award-winning photographer Cheryl Opperman. Her bold images provide a vivid bridge directly into the heart of countries, indigenous peoples, wildlife, and landscapes spanning the globe.


An extensive list of credits for organizations and publications including the American Humane Association, Overseas Adventure Travel, The Denver Post, Ducks Unlimited, Apple and the National Geographic Society result from her alluring exploration of over 20 countries on seven continents. Cheryl’s esthetic compositions, artistic use of light, and exquisite detail have been honored with several prestigious awards including the Grand Prize in the professional category of the “Ultimate Image of Earth” international contest for Earth Day 2000, the “People in Nature” Category Winner in the 2003 Nature’s Best International Photography Awards, First Place for Travel/Tourism photography in the 2004 International Photography Awards, First Place “Birds” in the professional category of the 2006 National Wildlife Photography Awards, and the “Wildlife” Category Winner in the 2015 Windland Smith Rice International Awards. She has been interviewed on camera by 9News television in Denver, Colorado, the Luminous Landscape and Smithsonian Earth. She was also featured as a leading female nature photographer by Outdoor Photographer Magazine.


Her photographs have been displayed in solo and group exhibitions across the country at notable venues including the Temple Hoyne Buell Theater, Boettcher Concert Hall, and Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.


Employing the power of photography to inspire interest in the environment and other cultures, she has presented slide shows or classes on various topics to schools, camera clubs, the Intermountain Regional Headquarters of the National Park Service, the North American Nature Photography Association, and the Crane Trust. Cheryl is a 1992 honors graduate of Brooks Institute of Photographyholding a Bachelor of Arts degree in Industrial/Scientific photography.

Why Choose Us

Most butterfly sanctuaries in Mexico have visitation time limits around 20 minutes. As long as the butterflies return to the same locations, we have SPECIAL access to reserves that allow us to stay longer. This additional time makes it possible to wait for ideal lighting conditions and butterfly activity.

Our local guides are experts on the habitat and behavior of these magical monarchs and share their wealth of knowledge to make sure you take home the images you want while also protecting these fragile environments.

Our small group size of only 6 photographers also makes for a much better experience at a very reasonable cost that is competitive with most companies offering similar itineraries with larger group sizes.

What’s included

  • Accommodations
    Double occupancy. 1 night at Holiday Inn Express Santa Fe (Standard Room), 5 nights at Misión Grand Valle de Bravo (Grand Lujo Room)
  • Workshop Instructor
    Exclusive access to individual sessions and instruction with Cheryl Opperman
  • Full-time Guide
  • Airport transfers
    Day 1 and Day 7
  • Private transportation
    Days 2-6
  • Local ejido guide
    During visits to monarch butterfly sanctuaries. Includes gratuities.
  • Porter
    For camera gear during visits to monarch butterfly sanctuaries. Includes gratuities.
  • Entrance fees
  • Meals as listed
    6 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and 2 dinners
  • In-country support
    24/7
  • Gratuities

What’s not included

  • Flights
    Contact us if you'd like assistance with flights.
  • Meals not listed
    4 dinners
  • Travel insurance
  • Room upgrades
    Contact us if interested.
  • Passport fees
  • Personal expenses

Available Packages

Trip Price
Deposit:$750
$6,750
Deposit:$750

Available options

Private accommodation supplement
$995
Deposit: $0

If you prefer private accommodations on single occupancy basis, add $995.

Itinerary

Day 1 (Sun, Jan 12)
Arrival to Mexico City

 Upon arrival to Mexico City, we’ll be met by your local guide for the transfer to our hotel. Our hotel tonight is on the west side of town so that we may avoid traffic leaving the city tomorrow morning.

Accommodations: Holiday Inn Express Santa Fe or similar

Meals: Welcome Dinner

Your Organizer


Rt
Reefs to Rockies
69 reviews
Our specialty is nature and wildlife travel. We know when and where to go for the best experiences. Travel time is limited. It’s important to choose a travel company that knows how to personalize a trip just for you. Our travel specialists will help you plan a custom trip that matches your travel style, budget, interests, and ideal dates.

Reviews

Awesome trip with even more awesome guides with amazing birding skills. Many thanks to Chip for leading and organizing our activities! And Carly was a definite bonus with her deep biological + birding knowledge, as well as her keen eyes and ears. I'm very impressed with both of them for their ability to instantly recognize bird species - especially when they were flying quickly by us. I was also very impressed with Chip's deep botanical and animal knowledge, providing great insights to both the areas we visited and their relationships to birds there. His vast nature experiences were obvious with all of his background explanations of the locations, and his high energy enthusiasm was great!
By Lance W for Birding & Beers Goes to New Mexico on Dec 18, 2024
The trip was everything I wanted. Great group. Great guides. Very organized. Thanks so much. Joan Cloud
By Joan C for Birding & Beers Goes to New Mexico on Dec 11, 2024
We had an amazing time with all the different experiences we had in Africa. We experienced the city and food scene in Cape Town, as well as the wildlife and nature. We enjoyed the Rovos Train, but it’s a one and done. We loved visiting the archaeological digs in Johannesburg as well as the knowledgable and humorous guide. We loved the elephant camp in Zimbabwe and our first game drive. Visiting Rwanda, with its museum, varied culture, and gorillas was amazing. The gorilla trek may have been the highlight of our trip. The week of game drives with Sosy was absolutely amazing. Apparently we saw things that are fairly unusual to see. We can see ourselves going back to Tanzania. We enjoyed visiting Kenya, but we would have rather explored Nairobi for a day than to have gone to Ololo. We did not care for the place in more than one aspect., including the awful swinging bridge to enter their facility. We enjoyed Meru. The lodge, the guide, and the overall experience were lovely. We were satisfied with Amboseli, but underwhelmed. We would have preferred to have gone on to Zanzibar instead of this experience. We loved Zanzibar. The resort, the staff, the food, the overall exotic experience were beyond fabulous. It was certainly a once in a lifetime trip until our next adventure.
By Janet M for African Explorer Safari on Nov 01, 2024
Knowledgeable, energetic, fun leader and animal spotter on this amazing trip. Animal highlights for me included the pronghorn, tarantula, and burrowing owls. I loved learning about SPLT and the Forest Service tour of Picket Wire Canyonlands. Everyone should learn more about the American Serengeti!
By Gayle L for Southeast Colorado Wildlife Weekend - Fall Migration and Tarantulas on Oct 01, 2024
The Azores are a beautiful place. The hotels were wonderful and most of the tours were excellent. However, we had several very concerning glitches. The times were were given for tour start times and taxi pick up times were incorrect on several occasions. We nearly lost our taxi to the airport one morning because he was told 9amand we were told 9:10am and he had another pick up to do. We nearly missed one whale watch because we were told 8:30 and we needed to be there at 8. Reef to Rockies said the error was on the part of our Azores tour company but that is hard to confirm. And when asked to re verify all upcoming times, Sheridan did not do that. On our final day our flight off a small island was cancelled. We were not notified by anyone. The taxi that was supposed to pick us up at 8:25 for our 10:25 flight was told to pick us up and 10am. Luckily we were able to reach the taxi driver directly because the "24 hour emergency" phone number were were given was not actually manned 24 hours so we had no support in getting this resolved. My friends have used Sheridan before and had amazing trips to other areas of the world. I would state that if you want to go to the Azores, there might be a company that has better communication with the people on the islands.
By Rebecca G for Azores 2024 on Sep 28, 2024
Thank you for your feedback, Becky. We are disappointed to hear that your recent trip didn’t exceed expectations. That is always our goal at Reefs to Rockies. Our reputation for exceeding expectations is the reason your travel companions have booked multiple trips with us in the past. In your group of 6 travelers, there were 4 different itineraries that had to be planned after the original trip was booked and confirmed. While that’s not an excuse, it does highlight the fact that there were a lot moving parts when scheduling this trip. We do recognize that there were a couple of missteps on pick up times with drivers, as well as an operational change to the whale watching tour start time that was missed when preparing your final travel documents. It’s important to note that no services were missed during your trip. Every service that was booked was delivered unless someone voluntarily opted out of the activity. We were, in fact, regularly in contact with our local partner to make sure details were being taken care of during your trip including a request on Sept 11 when we learned about the change in the whale watching start time. This is the email we sent right away after hearing about this and the response we received: From R2R: “We just received a message from Elena stating that the whale watch center told them they were late when they arrived at 8:30 am which is what is stated on the final documents you sent. In person, they were told they had to be there by 8 am. We need someone from Futurismo to reach out to them with an explanation. They were moved to a Zodiac instead of the larger boat and Marja was not able to join due to back issues and now she isn't able to go snorkeling. They also want to verify what size boat they will be on for the Pico Island tour. Please get with Operations and reconfirm that everything that is scheduled is valid for timing. Here is a link to Elena’s mobile itinerary and Lisa’s mobile itinerary to crosscheck since they have the longest trips. Thank you in advance for clarifying the issue with timing and reconfirming all other details.” From Futurismo: “Hello Sheridan, Thank you for the information. I’ve reviewed the other schedules, and they are all correct. This was my mistake as we had to reschedule some of the boat trips due to logistics, and I missed this one. However, as stated in the description, the type of vessel depends on the number of passengers. So there was always a chance they would go on a zodiac, and I haven’t received any information indicating that any passenger was unable to participate due to the type of vessel. I was informed that our team contacted them, and asked them to arrive earlier, and they arrived on time for the activity. One person chose not to participate, and another opted for a whale-watching activity instead due to the vessel type. The vessel we have at Pico is a 28-seat zodiac. Are they ok with this?” We also followed the possible strike with the local airline closely and suggested the group not change their travel plans based on a “threat” of a strike. That was a good recommendation since an agreement was reached and no changes to your itinerary were needed. When I spoke on the phone with the lead point of contact for your trip about the strike on Sept 12, I mentioned that times had been reconfirmed on our end. We try to limit email communication during a trip so you can enjoy your time away. We now understand this made you feel as though we were not communicative on your behalf. We never received notice about a flight cancellation. When we asked for more information, we were told it was a flight delay, not a cancellation. While airline schedule changes can be incredibly frustrating, they are completely beyond our control. Your driver that day was told to arrive at 8:25. We are glad you were able to connect with him with the contact number provided to you prior to departure for the transfer that day. We reached out again to Futurismo to clarify what happened on your day of departure per your trip review and restated our disappointment with the issues that happened along the way. This is their response to that question and the other issues you mention. “We’ve worked with this partner for a long time and rarely encounter issues. However, in this case, there was indeed a failure—not a delay, as the driver actually arrived early. The itinerary stated 09:10, but the driver arrived at 09:00. What the driver communicated to the clients has already been reported to the partner. He should not have rushed the clients, and there was no risk of missing any connections. We do not support rushed services that compromise the client experience. We also received feedback from one of the clients you sent, and we promptly addressed the issue with our partner, making it clear that such behavior is unacceptable. Regarding the whale watching incident, that was my responsibility. Our front-office team contacted the clients in advance to confirm the correct time for the trip, and fortunately, they were able to attend. I believe the most important thing is that they made it to the trip. As for the final transfer, it was scheduled for 8:25 with our partner, and we had no indication of any issues. We received confirmation that everything went smoothly, and this is the first time we're hearing about this concern. The flight was not cancelled but delayed. As soon as we became aware of the delay, my colleague Rita contacted the clients to inform them and provide guidance on how to proceed. Carlos and I are both part of upper management, and we are committed to resolving these issues. We will continue working closely with our local partners to ensure that the service meets the expected standards in the future.” We sincerely hope that you see that we were checking in on your behalf throughout your trip. We’ve worked with Futurismo for years and have never had issues such as these. We have to trust that our local partners will provide the same level of service we do once the trip starts. We value your feedback and have already connected with all parties involved to make sure missteps like these aren’t repeated. Thank you again for bringing this to our attention.
By Reefs to Rockies on Sep 30, 2024
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