Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Sea Turtle Return ...
Following conservation news can be very depressing with so few success stories, but this one was a positive start to the day! Brings tears to the eyes watching the video, hearing the passion of the volunteers and seeing the transformation of the beach - Sea turtles return to Mumbai beach after 20-year absence
Monday, March 5, 2018
2018 Safari Trip to southern Africa
An exciting trip planned for April 2018 to southern Africa, and this time we will be joined by a friend Louise from Canada who has never visited that part of the world! Itinerary includes:
- Wakkerstroom - a birding hotpsot,
- A wilderness walking safari in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi,
- A few days in the Royal Natal N.P. in the Drakensburg mountains,
- A night stopover at a game farm in the Waterberg district on the way to Botswana,
- Almost a week in the Limpopo-Lipadi Game Reserve in southern Botswana.
We will be a group of five for the Botswana portion of the trip as we will be joined by friends Sean & Carol.
Looking forward to some great adventures together.
The part of Africa I miss most living in Canada is the bushveld areas - the sights, sounds and smells. Heather and I have been fortunate to be able to head back almost every two years.
I occasionally get to satisfy some of the craving by watching SafariLIVE , but that is just not the same as being there.
Stay tuned for updates and hopefully some great photos from the trip!
Friday, September 23, 2016
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Chiefs Island Walking Safari
Our first evening at the mobile tented camp on
Chief’s Island, the frog calls are deafening! (raucous toad, painted reed
frogs, and others), and a bull elephant browses in the reeds towards the
setting sun. Just an awesome time before darkness falls. This is our first trip
to the Okavango Delta and we have chosen an itinerary organised by Africa
Geographic Travel comprising flights between Maun and Chief’s Island, the first
and last nights at Gunn’s Camp, and three nights at a mobile tented camp. June
was a great time for the trip as the seasonal flooding is almost at it’s peak,
but also chilly at night. The trip comprised a combination of boat trips from
Gunn’s Camp exploring the nearby delta channels, and mokoro trips and walking
from the tented camp. We did have our first lesson in piloting the mokoro ourselves
which was a lot of fun, and we stayed dry. In our opinion walking safaris are
the ultimate adventure, experiencing the environment and wildlife on foot. Our
two guides who looked after us for the six days were phenomenal and very
knowledgeable and safety aware. Several times we encountered male buffalo on
our walks without incident. We respected the distance to them, watched them for
a time, and moved on. The birding in the delta is just spectacular and
highlights for us included wattled crane, coppery-tailed coucal and a pair of
Pel’s fishing owls. Elephant sightings are frequent and a highlight of the trip
was watching a breeding herd crossing a river channel feeding as they went.
Some excitement as we navigated narrow channels passing territorial male
hippos. On this trip no predator sightings for us, but every night we did hear
lions calling.
Monday, February 1, 2016
Snow Geese !!!
The photo does not show a lot of snow geese - we saw our first ones on the lakes close to the Trans-Canada Highway in Saskatchewan. We did however head up to Quill Lakes, a designated IBA (International Bird Area). The main visitor centre was flooded and inaccessible. In our drive around the lakes bird watching, we did though see thousands and thousands of snow geese flying overhead heading south. I have never seen so many birds at once!
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