Festival of Wildlife 2008 Madagascar

Madagascar - what a destination! We have just returned from our 5th Annual Festival of Wildlife and have been totally mesmerised by this most magical of islands. With a mix of cultures incorporating African, Indian, Indonesian and European, the visual and sensory stimulation was overwhelming and that was before even getting close to the flora and fauna! Most of the wildlife can be experienced nowhere else on this earth and as we walked in small groups to discover it for ourselves, the whole experience became more intimate and adventurous....

Click here for the Festival 2008 Blog, which includes articles and pictures from participants, and experts, and also details of the auction which raised £13,391 for wildlife and conservation charities.

Customer Comment - Iceland - Mrs Sutton - June 2008

"I've just come back from a holiday in Iceland and feel a need to give feedback.

Everything was very well organised. The excursions were brilliant with a very knowledgeable driver who talked about everything about from the island's history to it's economics and even the elves. The hotel was very interesting! and the staff/owner very friendly.

We couldn't have been looked after better, the lady from the whale watching company (couldn't pronounce her name let alone spell it) made our holiday. Excellent. For example, we had decided on an extra whale watching trip but it was cancelled due to rough seas, so she took it upon her self to give us a tour of Reykyavik and the surrounding area (with stop offs) on the way to the airport."

Sarah Williams - Okavango Delta, Botswana

Botswana offers the wildlife enthusiast a huge number of varying scenic locations from which to view and experience its wealth of wildlife. It plays host to most of Africa's large mammal species: Elephant, Buffalo, Red Lechwe, Lion and Cheetah occur in good numbers in the north, while Gemsbok, Springbok and Brown Hyena are common in the Kalahari. It is also home to the largest remaining population of the endangered Wild Dog and over 500 species of bird.

In a departure from the standard jeep safaris, sales consultant Sarah Williams recently took to the water of the Okavango Delta in a leisurely and gratifying search for one of the regions most illusive mammals - the Sitatunga antelope...

Click here for the full report

News - Pench Tiger Reserve - India

Here is good news from the forests of the Pench Tiger Reserve. A tigress on Thursday the 15th May 2008 gave birth to four cubs raising the total number of tiger cubs in the reserve forest area to 16. At present there are 33 adult tigers in the Pench Tiger Reserve. The Pench Tiger Reserve already has 12 tiger cubs and with the newborn four cubs the total number of cubs in the Pench Tiger Reserve has increased to 16. The state Forest Minister Vijay Shah has directed the forest officials to ensure the care of newborn cubs. Earlier this year, Pench won the award for the best maintained tiger reserve in India. The forest spans 758 sq kms, and inspired Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book.

Click here for our Tiger Tiger Holiday - which features Pench Tiger Reserve.

Staff Report - Chris Breen in Namibia - April 2008

So, it was a pretty amazing day. We landed at around 8am and by 10am we were in a Cessna 210 heading west out over the desert on the way to the coast - the Namibian coast that is. I had been invited by Skeleton Coast Safaris to see their camps and enjoy their hospitality for a few days, and what a start we had! In the course of the day we made four short flights, each no more than an hour or so. Bertus was our pilot and guide, Bertus is the son of Loue Schoemann the pioneer who developed the amazing air safaris in this most remarkable of areas. We flew over some fantastic scenery, over a desert that was dusted with a smattering of green after the rains. In some places the green made a stark contrast to the deep reds of the higher dunes...

Click here for the full report

Customer Comment - Mrs Coggins - Madagascar - April 08

"All of the local guides and representatives went out of their way to be helpful, down to the local rep helping us in the post office in Tana and making sure post card went in the right post box. All guides were knowledgeable and enthusiastic and went to great lengths to make sure that we saw relevant wildlife."

Staff Report - Estelle - 'Amazon, Incas & Andes'

A whirlwind tour of Peru recently provided sales consultant Estelle Somers with total sensory overload. Estelle started her trip in the southern part of the Amazon Basin, taking a long but scenic motorised canoe ride along the Tambopata river to reach the Tambopata Research Centre in the uninhabited National Reserve. The research centre is strategically positioned next to the largest known macaw clay lick in the world but you have to be an early bird to see the parrots at their favourite gathering place!

No trip to Peru would be complete without a visit to Machu Picchu, which Estelle did in style aboard the luxurious Orient Express Hiram Bingham train, followed by a visit to the high point of Lake Titicaca with plenty more wildlife, this time seen from the calm of paddling her own canoe...

Click here for the full report